Cosaint
by Angelfirenze
Summary: She went out and snatched up the son of another now so dear to her after all of her deflection...but Connor wasn't Bobby and Angel wasn't Lou.
1. Part I: La Famiglia Mia

**Cosaint**  
_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer:** Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. Bayside. "Shudder.". Victory, 2008.

**Summary:** She went out and snatched up the son of another now so dear to her after all of her deflection...but Connor wasn't Bobby and Angel wasn't Lou.

**Notes:** Because we don't know anything of Fitch's life in New York, I'm using Michael Imperioli's origins, instead. Also, I'm taking a couple of liberties with Fitch's apartment for the same reason. Also 'cosaint' is the Irish for protection and 'la famiglia mia' is the Italian for 'my family'. Seemed fitting.

**Notes, cont'd.:** I got this idea earlier today and because they never leave me alone, and because I need to write _something_ for one of my two new favorite shows, why not do it for my birthday? Also, I was listening to _Shudder_ by Bayside on repeat and 'Demons' kept sticking out at me every time I heard it. This started to gestate. ("Can you please not say the word 'gestatin'' anymore, and where the hell's Angel?")

**Notes, three:** Is this finished? I don't think so. Anyone want anymore?

**Timeline:** 1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall.

**Spoilers:** The entire canon as it stands for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.).

Part I: La Famiglia Mia

_"My father was human and you don't know anything about that." - Detective Kate Lockley, 'The Prodigal'; ANGEL, 1.17_

They'd grown up separately and that distance had been maintained into their adult lives, though both conceded their respective careers as police officers had likely come from their father. Kate pretended until she couldn't that anything involving Louis or his own mother or New York just...simply didn't apply to her.

They could blend in, after all, and she did her best to ignore her brother's heritage. It was only half, after all, and half was human enough. She pretended and she was good at it. She blocked it out like all the other humans around her until one day she couldn't anymore and every wall she'd built up (more and more after Angel had clawed his way into her psyche and him and what he was wouldn't leave again no matter how hard she tried to pretend it wasn't eating her alive) came crumbling down.

_Your life's a living hell...You've got gremlins in your blood cells and monsters in your bed...They're haunting you again, oh, it must be this place, at least, that's what you say..._

She didn't fake it anymore. Her brother wasn't completely human and his mother hadn't been, either, though she'd certainly looked it until she wasn't there anymore and she had held Louis' hand over her grave next to their father and decided that Slayers, no matter how long they lived, were just as much trouble as demons.

So she shut it all out.

She never shared this point of view with her older brother, of course, but it was plain that he could tell. He could just give her this _look_ that told her she was cutting into the very core of him, knowing that he wouldn't just disown part of his blood like she apparently was going to.

So he stopped talking to her. It was easy to pretend she didn't care; she buried herself into being the best cop their father had taught them both to be (ignored the memories of times she'd caught Louis sitting next to her stepmother's weapons' trunk, praying under his breath and blessing himself as he awaited her return long after each of them were supposed to be in bed) and was generally Detective Kate Lockley.

Detective Louis Fitch of Westchester County, New York - later Detroit, Michigan (she wouldn't understand that move until a decade more had passed), didn't matter to Det. Kate Lockley of Los Angeles.

When her brother got married, she didn't accept the invitation. When Louis had a son, she didn't come to see him or call to see about her sister-in-law or new nephew.

When her brother's marriage fell apart she only thanked God that she'd never been stupid enough to think she could hold a family together in the first place.

_...Stretch inches into miles because Brooklyn wasn't built in just a day..._

Until she, herself, fell apart and she realized she had no one. No one but Angel, it turned out, but by then she thought the bridges were burnt. She'd ignored the Fitches and everything they meant her entire adult life, pretending that Louis wasn't half-Lockley and far more human than she was ever willing to admit until that moment.

She'd known he'd kept it under his skin their entire lives. His mother's blood stained his fingers from futile attempts to revive her when she was already becoming cold, slipping away, the burns inside her body from...to this day she doesn't know the name of the spell that killed her stepmother, but she was certain that he'd never forget it.

First there was some random demon doing what demons have done to Slayers for century upon centuries, then there was Albert Stram, an off-shoot and a calculated wild cannon. He preferred human means of murder, but Louis had always known he'd never been anything of the sort. He'd recognized it immediately from years of diligent study under one trained by the Watcher's Council in London, England, and then sent to the Demon Research Iniative because they'd felt they could use him.

It wasn't a month before they'd discharged and expelled him, seeing for themselves that he was never going to be the automatron they so wanted. They wanted no feeling, no discernment and all her brother, Lou, could do was _feel_.

He'd seen Stram's personal work with his own eyes and carried it with him everywhere. Kate knew now he must have dearly wanted to slough it off, but he couldn't.

He _couldn't._

Kate doesn't know if Lou has told her nephew - he's thirteen now and she's only just learned his name, Robert...or is it remembered? - of his grandmother's Calling or what it had done to their family, sending Lou into his mother's Watcher's care and Kate off to the West Coast with their father.

She had questioned it at first, why Trevor Lockley wouldn't allow Louis to come with them, would leave him with some woman they didn't even know. When she was an adult, she thought she understood.

Then she almost died and was left bereft again because it was she who had allowed Lou to float away like driftwood, ignoring him and pretending all along it was fine that way.

And when Albert Stram told her brother his three-year-old son was his next target if Lou didn't disappear (again), when Lou had called her, asking her desperately if she'd take his family in, protect them, keep them for him...she'd refused.

_...Soon, you won't feel this anymore..._

She's never regretted anything so much, not even her - their father's death or her treatment of Angel afterward. It was abandoning a little boy whose only memory of his father would prove to be a tricycle.

Not that she'd known that at the time. It wasn't until Los Angeles went to Hell and for the first time she'd been the one rebuffed by her older brother, his voice cold, his heart colder as he half-heartedly checked the television as she begged (letting in vulnerability she hadn't allowed herself to feel in so long it was as if she was slipping on a costume) him to look, just look at the fires and the demons and know that he wasn't alone and this time she was the one who needed his help and would he please?

He'd told her plainly that all he saw was a police chase, big news, and then without another word, hung up on her.

She'd cried that night, the first time since their father had died - it'd taken her months to even tell her brother, she'd been so closed off and obsessed, so driven and pain-filled...so insane - but understood that it had been what she'd deserved. She'd had a hand in her brother's life falling apart, after all. Why should he help her when hers did the same?

She'd made him pick himself up, now she'd better do likewise.

That night, she'd put on her Strong!Kate face and gone out and found Angel's son and acted like everything was okay when in reality (as opposed to the fever dream she now lived in), every time she stabbed, slew, dismembered, blew up a demon she was hearing...Lou's voice in her head telling her he didn't see anything special and what was the big deal?

What he hadn't said, she heard loud and clear. Not my son, obviously.

She went out and snatched up the son of another now so dear to her after all of her deflection...but Connor wasn't Bobby and Angel wasn't Lou.

_...Cast your demons aside..._

She wonders as she finally boards a far-too-long awaited plane for Detroit, what Bobby looks like, if Lou was ever anything like his mother...like Mama. If he's as strong - she already knew he had strength, that much was obvious...whether he could bend rebar in half, that was another story.

She wonders if Bobby can, either.

They're half- and a quarter-Slayer and her father was no stranger to the darkness and everything else he dealt with but that she'd ignored and when she de-planes, she honestly expects there to be no one there for her. She's deserved it after all.

Albert Stram almost destroyed her family and she turned a blind eye, didn't even tell her father Lou had called. She wonders now if Trevor Lockley had ever kept in touch with his son, himself.

But there was Lou, with whom she presumed was Bobby, along with another three people she didn't know, obviously - though one was plainly his partner. His wife was holding a baby so fresh from a baptism she could still smell the chrism that coated his little body now like a film.

Bobby starts to say something to her, but then remembers who she really is and why he's never known her either and it's like shutters come down over his eyes and he's even more closed off than her father has ever been, which is a feat to behold. Lou glances down at Bobby and grips his shoulder gently, leaning down and whispering something before his son takes a deep breath and arranges his face in polite blankness.

It's better than she deserves.

A few moments later, she finds out that Bobby and the baby are godbrothers. In the flash before the darkness comes back down over his eyes, Kate can see her nephew is so proud, so happy to be a big brother to this little boy and it fills her with sadness because she knows what she's thrown away with her own brother, his father, her actual flesh and blood.

All because his mother was a Vampire Slayer and because he still got to keep his longer even though she still died young.

Her stepmother was her mother in every sense that had mattered, but she'd still thrown them all away.

She'd never known she could be so resentful. She looks in Bobby's eyes now, though, as he stares quietly at her, clad in properly warm clothing for winter in Detroit, whereas she couldn't find a coat heavy enough to save her life in L.A. no matter how hard she'd looked.

She can't help but think it's more karma come to bite her in the ass.

She thinks her neck would be a better place, easier to draw blood that way.

The ride to the 1300 precinct is almost silent, though they do stop at Lou's pretty spacious apartment - and his corner store, which she'd chuckle about if she didn't feel like she was dying again - to drop off her things. She got a look at the room Lou keeps for Bobby and how her nephew has made it his own despite only having been in town for three days, she finds out.

There's a huge picture window with the Detroit skyline open to the night and Fitch tells Bobby to shut his curtains and not to leave them open, no, he doesn't care that they're so high up. Stray bullets, Kate knows, and the idea of her nephew lying in a pool of his own blood because he tried to see past the light pollution is suddenly more than she could bear.

Lou is kind enough to take notice of her shivering and take her to Fairlane Mall and the Macys inside to buy a heavy enough coat, as well as whatever else she didn't or couldn't bring. He reminds her that the SUV is not his so it better not blow up while they're in the store.

Washington and his wife give Fitch wary, querying looks, but Kate only nods and assures him silently that she didn't bring any ammunition or explosives. Or sharp, pointy wooden objects that look like little fence posts.

After all, Angel had told her he and Connor could handle L.A. themselves for now - that Connor needed proper training for fighting alongside his father for long periods and it wouldn't help if Kate kept diving in every time Connor got into a tight spot, new ability to reincarnate notwithstanding.

Kate is still disturbed that those women claiming to be Connor's own army would cut him open and drain his blood to use it for a ritual to honor him, or so they've said, but Angel's made it clear it's not her battle to fight. Connor is his son, his family.

"You need to go back to yours, Kate. It's the last thing you might do and you know that by now."

So here she was, listening to Bobby chattering that the Macys here isn't anything like the one in New York and Lou agreeing, a laugh she hasn't heard in his voice in so long, it makes her heart squeeze. Washington's wife says something and the baby fusses, but Kate only has ears for her family.

_...Keep them close enough to know that you're moving on..._

**END**


	2. Part II: Ríocht

**Cosaint**  
_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer:** Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. Bayside. "Shudder.". Victory, 2008.

**Summary:** Despite the bruise she was sure was going to form on her arm, she forestalled Lou's fervent apology and instead gestured to Bobby, "Try hiding that," she said breathlessly, now, in English. She wasn't smug. It wasn't worth it.

**Notes:** Well. This one wants to grow. Who am I to object?

**Notes, cont'd.:** I put the translations at the bottom this time since there are more.

**Notes, three:** I took liberties with a whole lot more now, obviously, since this _is_ fanfiction. Hope it worked out.

**Timeline:** 1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall.

**Spoilers:** The entire canon as it stands for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.).

**Rating: M** for language.

Part II: Ríocht

_...Praise, O-u-r Lady of Terrible Guilt - that's not my i-d-e-a of f-r-e-e will...It's r-e-a-l-i-t-y..._

Lou's lieutenant graciously let the two of them borrow her office, surprise and astonishment written all over her face at what she couldn't have missed, being that Kate and her big brother (it's been so long since she's called him that...) looked like complete strangers. Kate would have laughed, but when she looked at her brother, she saw her - their father's thick black eyebrows, his dark hair before it went grey and white...the rest was all Mama. Bobby, of course, looked like Louis in miniature and that had to have had everyone giving him double and triple glances, too.

Kate knows she's even worse, though, with her fair hair and eyes, they look nothing alike at all. Her Night and Day, Mama used to call them, even though Kate wasn't _really_ her daughter, if you wanted to look at it that way. Kate didn't like to think for a very long time about the fact that her mother - her true mother - was some _fräulein_ her father met while stationed in Germany and that, really, truly, if someone wanted to say so, she wasn't her brother's sister, but a stray, a mongrel taken in because it was home and that old saying always held true.

But whenever she got angry or sad and had that thought, Lou would narrow his eyes at her and grit his teeth, and she'd think of an angry dog seconds from biting, but he never did. Instead, he'd snatch her up in the tightest hug he could muster (but gentle because she was still a little girl then and he was already thirteen and shooting up like a weed the way his - their mother always said) and tell her to shut up having crazy thoughts like she wasn't his sister. Thoughts like that were for pussies and she wasn't a pussy, was she? She'd shake her head 'no' because she hadn't known what that word meant until she was nine.

_...I think I knew more when I was thirteen..._

Once she found out, she carefully put dog shit in one of his socks and then laughed as he swore and jumped up and down and ripped his sock back off, hurling it out his open window and someone had yelled when it hit them outside, but by then she was unable to stand and peed on herself, she was laughing so hard, and he'd stared at her, too astonished that she'd pulled a prank on _him_ to even be angry.

He'd rinsed his foot off with the garden hose and hobbled back in, where he scrubbed it over and over with soap, but couldn't stop twitching and sniffing in disgust, saying he smelled like shit, and Mama - or _Mamma_ as he spelled it in Italian, or sometimes the Irish _Mam_ that they'd both heard and called her when they went down to Boston to visit Dad's relatives and even some of hers - found out when she heard him and told him he deserved it had walloped him so hard he'd had a bruise down his shoulder for more than a week, but he never called her a pussy or swore where Mama could hear him again after that.

At the time, Lou's mother was the longest living Slayer, but now it was Buffy Summers, Angel's girl that he never talked about but was in every false breath he took (she wasn't stupid, nor _that_ oblivious no matter what Daddy had thought). She'd been young when she'd had Lou, had named him after her father, though she'd said she'd considered 'Trevor' after their father, the man she'd eventually married. No one talked about the fact that she'd been fifteen when she'd been Called or that when she met Trevor (who was twenty-five at the time and horrified, shamed with guilt that he'd knocked up a girl ten years younger than he; they married when she turned eighteen and Louis Lockley Fitch was already nine months old), she'd only been sixteen. Lou was born when she was seventeen. Trevor shipped out when he was six and came home with Kate.

Neither knows if their parents actually fought about it, but to them - or at least to Lou - it had never mattered. She had been his _sorellina_, end of story.

Kate absently noted the mirrors between Mama's life and Buffy's and wondered why Buffy was still alive and their mother dead, but she wasn't petty that way anymore, so she simply put it up to Buffy having backup that Mama never had, which was true.

Whenever Mama had gone out, she'd been alone. With Dad at work, the house was theirs and they stayed up as long as they could - Lou always won, no matter how hard she tried. They called it their _riocht_, the world, the universe was theirs.

_...I liked reality better when it was a dream..._

The burning star at the center, their parents, imploded the night Mama died.

He was giving her that _look_ - the astonishment and disbelief that only he could convey _that_ way (she wondered how Lou and Angel and others like them could speak languages with their faces) right now and Bobby was glancing back and forth between them like there was some sort of silent chess match going on and, really, there was, but neither would admit it.

Neither wanted to be the first to speak, but both wanted to be the first to tell the other everything.

"Kate?" Bobby's voice whispered and both startled. It was obvious she hadn't earned the title of 'Aunt' yet, which she completely understood.

"Yeah, sport?" she said without thinking, but backpedaled when Bobby recoiled at the, again unearned, familiarity and Kate eased up.

"Bobby!" Lou snapped, but Kate put her hand on his arm before turning back to her once-ignored nephew, "Jesus, Lou, let the kid be!"

She looked back at the thirteen-year-old who might as well have been getting his ass beaten by their mother for swearing at her, he looked so much like his father. "Sorry. Yes, Bobby?"

Bobby was silent for a moment before spouting off in an entire, fluent trail of Italian that left Kate reeling. She'd been rather proficient when she'd been a kid, but that had been a long time ago and it sounded like a load of gibberish to her now. Even the Irish she'd known once upon a time was but a distant memory. It occurred to her just then that it was Angel's birth language and she now wondered if Bobby knew any at all.

Lou blew out a breath, but forced himself not to react any further than glaring at his son and then rolling his eyes at Bobby's steadfast poker face.

Kate made certain to respond politely. "I'm sorry, Bobby, my Italian's pretty rusty. Do you mind translating that into English for me? My Irish isn't at it's best, either, though I do have a friend who could help me remedy - well, both, actually, he's a linguist - if I asked."

"A boyfriend?"

"What is it with you and trying to hook up everyone you see?" Lou sputtered and Kate noticed the distinct flush he now sported and was intrigued.

Kate ignored her brother's irritation, "A friend. He saved my life once and I saved his before that. He says we're even. He's a private investigator in L.A."

"They still have those?" Bobby asked, not unpolitely, and Kate nodded, "Yeah. Cops employ them to get tips we - your dad would have to go through all kinds of red tape to get. Regular people use them, too."

"You were a cop?" Bobby shifted in his chair, glancing at his father. "I...I asked before how you were my dad's sister, but ne-never mind. Um, you were a cop?"

Lou paled, but Kate waved him off. "Yes, I was. A detective like your dad, but that was a long time ago - at least for me. I don't know if you ever met my - our dad, his name was Trevor Lockley - "

Bobby's face was drawing a complete blank and Kate could only lean back slightly and chuckle at the irony. "Okay, yeah, I guess I deserve this. This _is_ my fault. We have the same dad, Trevor Lockley, like I said - ah, bu-but - "

Kate raised a hand to stall the interruption from both father and son she could see and each reason they were coming for. "We have different biological mothers, but your dad's mother was mine, too, which was all that mattered to either of us."

Lou blew out a hard breath, running a hand over his hair and down his face, and Kate could just count the notches his blood pressure was going up, but they couldn't lie to his son. He was way too old to just be walked away from again and she wasn't about to do the whole 'ignore what I don't like about the world' thing again. She'd die first.

"She adopted me after our dad brought me home during the Vietnam War."

Bobby blinked and then it sank in. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow. It's why we don't look alike. Doesn't matter, I used to think your dad was practically a _san_. I used to think the city in Missouri was named for him - hey, quit giggling I was four, okay? Anyway, I all but worshiped my big _half_-brother," Kate shrugged.

Lou was absolutely gaping at her by now, but she was through dodging hard questions just because she needed to stay in some kind of comfort zone. "Louie, you want to take the question of what a Slayer is or should I? How about vampire? You could pick any card you like? Werewolf?"

Fitch froze and bared his teeth just slightly, his fingers digging into the desk behind him and Kate swatted his arms away before his strength left inexplicable half-moon marks in the wood of his lieutenant's desk. "Unless you plan to pay for that - "

"_How can you be so calm about this, Trinchen_?" Fitch snarled, causing Bobby to flinch, but Kate held her ground and answered calmly.

"Because you and I both owe your son explanations about who we are, where we came from, _why you're here_, and the difference between good and evil in those we call friends and enemies. He's mature enough to be over the fact that you and his mother are never going - "

Fitch turned away from her, but Kate told hold of his shoulder and used physical force to turn him back around where his strength wouldn't let her. "Jackass, listen to me. You already know you and Linda aren't going to reconcile - "

"What the hell do you care, you didn't come to our wedding, you didn't see Bobby when he was born!" Fitch whipped his arm out of her grip and she let him because it was true.

Kate breathed deeply in through her nose and nodded, "You're right. In short, I was a bitch and in deep, deep denial. I hated seeing you after Mama died and I decided I never wanted to see or feel that again. *Fate had a different plan for me, Lodovico, because Daddy was killed by a vampire while my friend - also a vampire...*"

Long unused Italian, words she'd assumed until just now had been forgotten, were flowing from her lips now and Bobby's eyes were widening right along with his father's, who was staring at her, becoming paler with every second.

"Was forced to watch. Daddy refused to invite him in and Angel couldn't get through the barrier as a result. Some scumbag demon - like the equally scumbag werewolf who threatened our family - your family, I - I was being the bitch, like I said...some scumbag demon sent his vampire lackeys to _dispose_ of Daddy because he wouldn't continue to play by their rules so that they'd pay him so he could give the money to me...and you. Probably to Roberto.*"

_...Now thinking hurts and feeling is worse..._

Fitch was crushing his hands through his hair now, shaking as he leaned backward against the desk, his face obscured, but tears falling to the floor beneath him where Kate and Bobby each could see them landing, bleeding into one another. Kate stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Fitch and he resisted instinctively at first, but then remembered his strength when Kate went tumbling back onto the floor, landing hard, and forcing herself to hold in an exclamation of pain.

Fitch's arms flew away from his face and he dashed forward to pick Kate up off the floor, gathering her easily into one arm as he brushed her off needlessly, and then set her back on her feet.

Despite the bruise she was sure was going to form on her arm, she forestalled Lou's fervent apology and instead gestured to Bobby, "Try hiding that," she said breathlessly, now, in English. She wasn't smug. It wasn't worth it.

Fitch's breath caught again and he turned to look at his wide-eyed son, who was even paler than he'd become, himself.

"Werewolf?" Bobby whispered and Lou started to reach up to run his hands through his hair again, but stopped himself at the last second before lowering his hands.

"Yeah, Bobby. He wouldn't have just killed you - that's what he threatened to do - Stram...Albert Stram. He...he preferred human methods of killing, but...he promised that for you he'd make a special case and _return to his roots_. He would have torn you apart. I had to leave or he would have eaten you - or, or probably even bitten you just to prove a point. Being a werewolf isn't...you were just a little boy. How could I have kept you from infecting another kid and why would I have put you through that in the first place? You-you're right, I wasn't there, but it was because if I had been, you would have either been torn apart or turned."

Fitch was whispering now, himself, but Bobby found he heard his father perfectly even with the steady murmur and din outside...just like always.

"But if I'm not a werewolf, then how come I can...why'd you pick Kate up like she didn't even weigh anything and how'd she go flying down like that, anyway?"

Fitch was running his hand over his mouth now as Bobby asked each subsequent question, but he breathed forcefully again and frowned deeply before looking Bobby in the eye. "My mom was the Vampire Slayer...well...not the current one, obviously. She's uh, well, I don't know how old Buffy Summers is - "

"Nearly thirty. The longest surviving Vampire Slayer to date," Kate amended softly and Fitch nodded sadly, tears beginning to prickle at his eyes.

"Into every generation, a Slayer is born...One girl in all the world with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, stop the spread of their evil, the swell of their numbers. She alone will fight the forces of darkness, she is the _Slayer_." Fitch's recitation was filled with bitterness at that last word. "My mother was _Chosen_ when she was fifteen and she met our dad when she was sixteen."

Fitch shrugged. "I was born when she was seventeen and they got married when she turned eighteen. She barely survived the g-" Fitch stopped himself from cursing and clenched his eyes shut. "She survived their stupid damned test and our dad proposed after that. She told me once that he would have hit her Watcher, the woman who raised me, except - yeah, she's a woman. Never hit a woman, Bobby, no matter the circumstances."

But Fitch's voice was broken by now, tears sliding openly down his face as he remembered the night his mother died.

_...Now thinking hurts, and feeling is worse..._

"The demon that killed her was female. I was fifteen and Katie was nine. Dad took her to California after that."

"Why?" Bobby asked angrily, wondering what Trevor Lockley looked like and glancing at Kate, the anger he'd felt earlier returning with full force. Kate sighed and allowed him his ire. She had more than enough of it coming her way.

"The Watcher's Council - they aid and guide the Slayers, though your Aunt Katie tells me her friend Angel said they were all blown up - one of them was his best friend's dad. Watching is hereditary, but anyway - in the extremely rare event that a Slayer has a child, the Council takes custody of...well, me, in that case. Katie wasn't our mother's biological kid, so she could go with our dad."

"That's crap," Bobby snapped, giving his father an irritated once-over. "He was your dad, didn't you even - you weren't little like me, you could have run away - "

"Watch it. I ran away six times, Bobby," Fitch snapped back before reining himself in again and turning away for a moment and then turning back to face both his son and sister. "After the sixth time, they decided I was too much trouble, expelled me from the Watcher's Academy - it was fun being the only American there, yeah - and sent me to the Demon Research Initiative in D.C., hoping they could do something else with me, I guess, but my mother's Watcher - her name was Anna Winthrop - she'd trained me to think for myself, something the Watcher's Council hates.

"I remember she and - I'm guessing Kate's friend Angel's friend's dad - guy named Roger Wyndham-Pryce and another two, both named Giles, a mother and a son, I never knew their names - she fought them tooth and nail about it. She knew they were trying to mold me and wouldn't have it.

"They sacked her when I was already in the DRI. I found out after I got dishonorably discharged for 'inability to integrate properly into the militaristic culture', which is...anyway, I found out after I got back that the sack they put her in is probably lying at the bottom of the Atlantic."

Fitch was glaring viciously at Kate now, but Kate met his anger head on. Bobby was staring at his father in horror, considering the implications of what he was saying.

"They killed her. They took her away from you...and that demon took...took your mom...and those other Watcher people took you from your dad and...and Kate."

Bobby's eyes widened further and he stared up at his father, who was stricken once more but obviously trying to hide it. "And that Stram wolf guy you were talking about...when you were telling that guy about people doing all these horrible things to you..."

Bobby broke off there and leapt forward, his feet leaving the ground in an awkward arc as he grabbed at his father and clutched at him, shuddering and whimpering and Fitch knew he was crying. Fitch gripped his son, holding him to his chest, stroking Bobby's hair with his free hand.

"I'd die if anything had - happened to you."

"I love you, Dad," Bobby whispered and Fitch shuddered, tears burning past his clenched eyelids again.

"I love you, too, bud," he whispered but then Bobby jerked awkwardly backward and it was only his natural agility that allowed Fitch to keep a hold on him.

"Are you a Slayer or a Watcher, Dad?" Bobby asked, swiping his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Uh, n-no. I told you I was expelled and there aren't any male Slayers."

"Angel's son is one," Kate cut in gently and Fitch started in shock.

"What? Vampires don't - what?"

"Prophecy, whole thing. Both his biological parents are vampires, but he's more or less human. Kind of like a vampire, but with none of the crap. Connor can walk around in sunlight, stakes don't kill him - hell, since we got out of Hell, _nothing_ can kill him, from what I can see. But he doesn't drink blood, either. Point is, yeah, there is exactly one."

"Who gets to be immortal." Fitch couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.

Kate frowned, narrowing her eyes, "Okay, can you shove it for a minute? While we were in Hell, Angel was forced to watch the vampire that used to be one of his best friends - time was set back to normal when we got out, but while we were there like I said, Charles Gunn damned near gutted Connor. He _died_."

Fitch froze, his eyes widened as he unconsciously gripped Bobby more closely to him again.

Kate continued mercilessly, "Angel was thisclose to completely snapping, but managed to keep it together long enough to get Gunn to cut off his head with this flaming sword, forcing the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart to turn back time to the exact moments before we all went not-so-South and Connor and everyone else who had died were all brought back to life."

Kate stalked up to Lou and poked him in his chest the way she used to when she was five and wanted to make a point to her eleven-year-old brother. This was exactly the same.

"Angel _died_ for Connor, which I just heard you say you'd do for Bobby so shut up and just be the same father he is. One who loves his son. The reconstituted International Council of Watchers - headed by one Buffy Summers - found Connor to be a Slayer, but when they asked if he wanted to train with them, he said he'd rather stay in L.A. with Angel."

"Oh."

"Yeah, asshole, 'oh'."

Fitch shifted uncomfortably, "I take it back."

"You'd better."

"Am I like a Slayer?" Bobby asked, slowly climbing back down and smoothing his clothes back down. He looked at his father, "Are you?"

Fitch sighed, "Something like that. Like I said, Slayers don't usually have children, but I've always been really fast, strong, and all that crud. Your mother said you're going to try out for baseball when you hit high school in the fall. Bunt the ball, basically, don't go full-force. No one will ever see it again and some kid five burroughs away will get concussed."

Bobby's eyes widened again and he looked down at his hands. He looked back up at his father and...aunt.

"Cool. Do you hunt demons a lot, Aunt Kate?"

It was all Kate could do to keep the smile off her face just then.

_...This is r-e-a-l-i-t-y..._

**END**

Translations:

'Ríocht' is the Irish for 'kingdom'.

'San' is the Italian for 'saint'.

'Mamma' is obvious, right? Italian for 'Mom'.

'Sorellina' is 'little sister'.

'Fräulein' is 'young lady, unmarried woman' in German.

'Trinchen' - German variation of 'Katherine'.

'Lodovico' - Italian variation of 'Louis'.

'Roberto' - Italian variation of 'Robert', also kind of obvious.


	3. Part III: Immersione nel fuoco  A

**Cosaint  
**_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer: **Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. Eminem, feat. Dr. Dre, Xhibit, Snoop Dog. "Marshall Mathers LP.". Aftermath, 2001. Thursday. "Common Existence.". Epitaph, 2009.

**Summary: **Damon sighed, "Maybe it has somethin' to do with that 'family business'. Aside from being cops."

**Notes: **Well. This one wants to grow. Who am I to object?

**Notes, cont'd.: **Well, this chapter went where it wanted to. I hope that doesn't matter. Remember 'The Harvest' and Willow needing to sit down while already doing so? Yeah. *nods*

**Notes, three: **Eminem (or, more specifically, Xhibit) instead of Bayside, this chapter. Quite the departure. Huh.

**Timeline: **1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall.

**Spoilers: **The entire canon as it stands for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.).

**Rating: T **for mild language.

Part III: Immersione nel fuoco - A

_...Standing over you with a 12 gauge about to bust...It's like ashes to ashes and dust to dust...I might leave in a body bag but never in cuffs...So who do you trust, they just not rugged enough..._

Washington looked up from his son and rolled his eyes as he watched Mahajan drop into Fitch's seat across from his own desk.

"Fitch is going to have your butt for a hat stand, man. All I did was touch his paperweight Bobby gave 'im and he lost his mind."

"Yeah, but that was back when you first met and look now - you're each other's kids' godfathers..."

Mahajan adopted a falsely maudlin expression, "Oh, how things change."

Washington would have rolled his eyes if Mahajan hadn't been right, the ass, "Why are you here, doesn't Lieutenant Mason have you doin'_somethin'_?"

Mahajan adopted a disbelieving expression, "No, of course not. This Stram case has had us drowning in paperwork."

"But..." Washington glanced down at his son and then over at his wife, Lauren, before looking back at Mahajan. "Canada? The Feds? Not our juridiction in any way?"

Mahajan shrugged, "Lieutenant wants a record of it. Something about FBI Agent Annoyance Barbie not being allowed to just up and leave and take our case with her. Man, the only reason you and Fitch have gotten out of it is your families. You're part of the case." Mahajan scowled and folded his arms, leaning back in Fitch's chair. "Lucky you."

Washington looked at him in abject disbelief, "Yeah, a mob boss wanted to kill us all - _real_ lucky. And Stram being _after our families_ had_nothin'_to do with it, naw, not a thing." Washington objected and used his free hand to gently indicate the lieutenant's closed office. "And I'm tellin' you, man, your butt for a hat stand..."

"Oh, come on, the door's closed and they're engaged in...you know, family stuff, which - _wow_, Fitch has a little sister? From L.A.? And..."

A sudden string of Italian, followed by something else, French, and then _German_, of all things, erupted from the lieutenant's office and Fitch threw the door open, "Mahajan, get out of my chair and away from my desk before I remove your head with a pencil and mount it over my fireplace!"

Washington burst out laughing as Mahajan actually managed to visibly pale, but stopped for a moment when Lauren smacked him on the arm.

"Did I mention Fitch has ears like a bat and a nose like one, too?" He was absolutely giggling now. "Get up..."

"How did he even _know_?" Mahajan gasped, staring at Fitch's agitated face before the other man closed the door back as he quickly vacated said seat and went back to his own desk, where Longford and, surprisingly enough, Sanchez, were giggling away at him.

"You should have known that was going to happen," Longford admonished, a shining grin on his face. "So, anything else you can tell us, Washington?"

"He-here's a question," Washington asked his coworkers at large, a mildly petulant pout on his face. "What am I, the resident Fitch-tionary, now?"

"Yes," everyone else answered in unison and Damon scowled as even Lauren chuckled.

"Does he like long walks on the beach?" Sanchez asked playfully.

"I don't know, you're the one that went to lunch with him and Bobby and you're goin' to dinner tonight with them and Fitch's surprise sister. Let us know, but I _do_know, he likes long walks up and down annoying people's spines and at the moment, I'm right there with him."

Sanchez laughed again and despite it being at his expense, Washington was happy to at least see her do so after everything with Stone. She deserved a laugh or three. "You're all going, too, don't forget that. Whole big thing - some Italian restaurant that only you two and Fitch know about."

"Yeah, well," Washington continued, now only slightly disgruntled, "If his sister picks up a phone and calls you on it from less than a foot away, don't be surprised. Apparently, they think that junk is funny."

"You're just mad 'cause a thirteen-year-old did it to you and you thought his dad put him up to it," Mahajan chimed back in from the safety of his own desk.

"I still don't see why he had to do that!" Washington griped, glaring at the once-again closed door. "I mean, what kid does that?"

"Fitch's kid, duh," Mahajan rejoined, and Washington nodded helplessly.

"What's Bobby like?" Washington heard Lauren ask quietly and turned back toward her and the baby, suddenly feeling much better.

Damon thought for a moment, "Uh, _way_too smart and mature for his own age, I mean, neither of them are very sarcastic so there's not that. Bobby likes to watch people a lot, from what I can tell. And, uh, he's real proud of Fitch bein' a cop."

"Not like the lieutenant's daughter," Longford cut in gently. "She hated it, remember? Maybe it's a New York thing. NYPD."

"It better not be," Washington objected, looking down at the baby and starting to make goofy faces so he'd laugh, gratified when he did. "And his sister moves like a cop, too. She had to have been one at some point. If it's the family business, yeah, he'd be proud."

"What did Fitch say before he opened the door?" Mahajan asked, looking in a lonesome way at Longford, who simply rolled his eyes.

"Do you really want to know how he threatened your life, partner? And, anyway, I don't speak French or...whatever that other language was."

"Irish," Washington clarified and everyone looked at him, surprised, in response to which he shrugged, "Bobby told us his family is mostly Italian and Irish, with some German in it - though he didn't know how about the German until earlier today. And Fitch agreed. I guess it was part of the 'godparent package'."

Mahajan's eyes widened further, "You mean he'd kill me in more ways than just a Mob-like fashion? Like...with a shillelagh?"

"You know, for that dumbassed comment, he just might," Longford said, shaking his head in pity. "Fitch has never been in the Mob. Not Italian, not Irish, not any Mob. He's not on the take, I thought yesterday would have made that completely clear."

"Well, I know _that_," Mahajan made a face. "I just mean...well, he's Fitch and...apparently, will kill someone for innocently sitting at his desk. Ask Washington, he picked up that paperweight that one time - remember what Fitch said to him?"

"'If you ever touch anything on my desk again, I will cut off your hands and lock 'em in the gun safe,'" everyone chorused, leading to the door to the lieutenant's office whipping open again and Kate Lockley staring out at everyone with glee all over her face.

"He said that? Lou, you said that? It's just a desk!"

"It's _my_desk."

"You're still a di...damn it, Lou, it's just a desk!"

Fitch rolled his eyes and slammed the door shut again, but not before they heard Bobby say, "I could get you another paperweight, Dad..."

Longford and Washington found they couldn't look at each other after that with starting to laugh uncontrollably and Mahajan looked back and forth between them. "Is this what being a dad is going to be like?"

"You need to find your egg donor first, remember?" Longford said teasingly and Mahajan made another face.

"Says the guy who's preparing as we speak to kill his daughter's fiancé over...what was it again?"

"He has the _nerve_to want to marry my little girl," Longford scowled and Sanchez bit back another giggle.

"How dare he, think your daughter's that special and perfect."

Longford paused, "...Well, when you put it like that..."

Sanchez grinned again, biting her lip when Mahajan smirked at her and mouthed, "Papa Bears."

"Don't think I didn't hear that," Longford said without looking back up from his paperwork.

Mahajan was astonished, "What are you, Fitch now?"

"No, just one of those Papa Bears."

Mahajan snorted but said nothing else.

"Damon," Washington heard Lauren whisper and leaned over to see what she wanted. "What did they mean earlier about explosives and little wooden sticks that double for fence posts? And those bullets on the table by the front door in Louis' apartment - Damon, I think they were silver! _Silver_?"

Washington could only shrug, gesturing faintly with his hands as he turned back toward the closed door. He whispered back, "Okay, that's just...Maybe we'll find out...maybe they don't want us to, like with this. Maybe it's a safety thing."

"It can't be if Bobby knows," she countered, but Washington shook his head.

"We don't know what he knows, or why."

"But he's only thirteen, why would it be safe for him to know, but not us?"

Damon sighed, "Maybe it has somethin' to do with that 'family business'. Aside from being cops."

"He's only thirteen, Damon!"

Washington sighed again and continued whispering, "And unless Fitch is willing to tell us what's up, speculation isn't gonna get us anywhere. He trusts us with Bobby - his whole world - i-if this has anything to do with Bobby, he'll let us know. We just have to give him time about this.

"I had to push him about making the calls because...well, I guess now I know he thought he was too dangerous to be near Bobby, what with Stram and all, but now Stram's gone, so maybe things'll cool down and he'll be more open.

"He didn't want us to end up like his last partner's family and risked me hating his guts for it, so the least I can do now is be patient and let him tell us if he can. Be patient with me, baby. It's worth it, I can tell you that. He's worth it."

Washington watched Lauren hesitate for just a moment before finally nodding and whispering back, "Okay. Okay, I'll wait on him. I'll wait, Damon."

Washington exhaled gustily and smiled a bit, "Thank you, baby."

Then the lieutenant's door opened and Bobby, of all people, was gesturing fervently at the Washingtons and, surprisingly, Sanchez. "Uncle Damon, Aunt Lauren - Ariana - Dad and Aunt Kate want you guys!"

Lauren raised an eyebrow at Damon, but both stood and went into the office, followed by an even more surprised Sanchez, regardless of their apprehension.

Fitch shut the door and stood still for a moment, apparently satisfied about something before taking a deep breath and turning back to face...his new family members, as well as Sanchez - who, if Bobby's persistence at overcoming his own reticence paid off, could be one, too...and preparing to lay his life out on a platter.

He wasn't built for this crap, he knew, but he also knew far more that he owed it to two of them, at the very least.

"_Dio_, I'm going to sound like a Watcher." Fitch fidgeted with his ear for a moment before forcing himself to look the leery couple in the eyes. He stared at his godson in Lauren's arms for a few moments and glanced at an encouraging Kate before forcing himself to breathe.

"You _were_trained by them," Kate reminded him and Fitch sighed heavily.

"Not helping, Katie. Okay, I've gotta get this out before I...whatever. Uh," Fitch cleared his throat and Kate kicked him in the shin. Fitch shot her the dirtiest look he could muster, but continued anyway. "The world...is - older than, than any of you know..."

_...First we're cut from the cloth in perfect shapes, then we're tied in a knot and we're left to fray..._

**END - A**

Translations:

Immersione nel fuoco - 'Immersion into Fire'


	4. Interlude: Persona Non Grata

**Cosaint  
**_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer: **Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. CAKE. "Showroom of Compassion.". Upbeat Records, 2011.

**Summary: **But I'm rambling, as much as can be done on paper, and I don't exactly have a lot of time here.

**Notes: **I got this idea after a nap, so that's two updates for today.

**Notes, cont'd.: **Furthermore, yes, Trevor Lockley decided he wanted in on the story, but not in person. Never that.

**Notes, three:** According to Wiki, _non persona grata _literally means 'an unwelcome person' in Latin and is a legal status with the United States government. I'm repurposing it for my own use here.

Also, just in case anyone gets that idea, the lyrics aren't actually part of the letter. Just covering my butt because while it'd be cool and unbelievable, I doubt neither Fitch nor Trevor Lockley would ever listen to CAKE without Bobby's possible insistence. Anyway, ridiculous clarification out of the way...

**Timeline: **1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall. (Mentions of 'The Prodigal', AtS, 1.17)

**Spoilers:**The entire canon as it stands for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.).

**Rating: M **for language.

Interlude - Non persona grata

_Mac mo mhíle stór,_

You probably already know the circumstances under which you'll be getting this letter, son, and given that the Watchers' Council probably taught you more languages than I have damned fingers, I figured I wanted to take you back for my own - even though it's at the last minute and though a stupid goddamned letter, no less - and, so, I'm writing this because if I were to suddenly come out to Westchester, my asshole associates would become suspicious and I've worked damned hard so that they don't know either you or Katie exists, much less Bobby, and all this Stram shit can't repeat itself.

Fucking bastard - makes self-respecting werewolves who just want to go along peacefully and live in the world look like monsters. But since, for now, Bobby's safe - and Vico, I can't tell you how proud I am of you and the sheer lengths you'll go to, and I know you'll go to even more because I know just how much he means to you.

Makes me feel like I taught you something after all, even though I know I didn't. Maite taught you a lot more than I ever did, or even got a chance to and we both know it. I tried not to waste my chance with Katie, but something really tells me I've failed her, too.

Don't try and object, Lodovico Lockley Fitch, you know I have.

_...Launching loony thoughts into the bending of your mind...You reach for something high but it's a mountain that you find..._

I won't rehash that shit with DYFS or the fact that obviously the goddamned Watcher's Council stuck their rotten fingers all through our family and you've done nothing but pay for it, you and Katie. She's thought all this time that she had to become hard, had to shove everything away just to survive and no matter how much I tell her it's not good to be alone or anything else, she's determined to be just that.

It's so (...) odd, son. I guess somebody could expect that of you, to not even try for a family, to spend every day dove deep in the Job and not focus on anything else. And most people probably think that of you - you were always an excellent actor - but I know better. Linda and Bobby hold your heart tighter than a rope on a cliff.

Good. Don't let that go, your feelings. Your sister's shoving hers away and one day she's going to pay for it and I'm really afraid I'll be the reason why. I'm all she'll let herself have anymore and that's not good. You know I told you about that PI, Angel, and who he really is. Not that you didn't already know, what with all that training, but you know more than Katie only because she won't let herself.

He was the one I asked to send this letter to you now that I'm gone. He tried to look out for Katie, thought I was doing her wrong, and he had every right to suspect. I don't know if it should or shouldn't make me feel so good that someone cares that much about her, even if it's one of the most prolific vampires to ever walk the earth.

Yeah, I know, he has a soul now. The DRI had you debriefed all about that mission in 1943 and the Navy and how he served in WWI even before that. Katie knows none of that, of course. It's not her fault. When your mother died, she just (...) shut down, son. You both did, but unlike her, you tried to open back up again. I think you succeeded.

Your mother would be so proud of you, I know I am. I wish I could speak to you in person or even on the phone anymore. Bastards tapped my phone, of course, so a letter had to be it.

_It's been a long time since I've seen your smiling face, it's been a long time since I've seen a sunny day..._

I know you've done as I've asked and won't be telling Bobby about me. Good. He doesn't need anymore danger in his life than he will already, any more heartbreak. But if he's anything like his father, it'll only make him stronger, make him better.

Thank you for the pictures of him, over the last months - asking Linda to give you more than one copy even though she thinks I aband (...) well, hell, I all but did. But thank her for me, for the copies. It's been amazing, seeing my grandson and watching him grow.

I can't believe he's already one year old. It's okay, him not knowing who I am. That's not necessary. We both know he'd just end up as more collateral damage and I'll be damned if I let that happen, again, myself, much less to a baby boy only just a year old.

But I'm rambling, as much as can be done on paper, and I don't exactly have a lot of time here. The letter to Angel is unsealed and will be on top of this one, but hopefully you won't demand to see it. He's not a father, he doesn't (...) he just doesn't understand. No amount of interrogation will change that.

I'm getting off point here, son, and for that I'm sorry. I'll make this brief. I tried to do something for you and your sister and it's backfiring on me. I'm retired now, but it's still made me dirty and I hate myself for what I've done, but I'll never hate myself for why.

And that why is for you, Lodovico, and for Trinchen. Maybe one day she'll be willing to listen, our Katie. I'm just asking you, my only son, to be patient with her and wait until then. I know it hurts, her shutting you out like this ( - ) none of you deserve it. I won't answer your questions about the photos or whether she's seen them because you already know the answer and I know that hurts, too.

I've told her it's not good to be alone, but she thinks I'm talking about Angel. She thinks he's human, son, and that I'm asking her to try to date him.

No, I'm not. I'm asking her to let him do what he's been trying to do since they met, to protect her, but she thinks she doesn't need it.

She's not like you, son, and because of that, she needs it most of all.

I'm so afraid of what she'll do one day.

But I can't force the two of you back together and I wouldn't try because it's not fair to you.

Nothing's been fair to you, so all I can try to tell you, Louis, is that I love you. By now you understand that trying to articulate just how much is pretty damned impossible, but romantic love isn't the only bitch. It's just something we have to live with.

Take care of little Bobby, take care of Linda. I know you and she aren't exactly on the ins right now, but try not to let it eat you up. Know forever that your mother and I wouldn't want that for you.

My final request, _mac mo mhíle stór_, is that when Katie's ready, when she's able, willing...don't shut her out anymore. Let her try and weather your anger, let her try and fix what's been broken between the two of you.

Just _try _to let her try.

It's all I can ask, son.

Last, but never, ever least (...)

_Is breá liom tú, mac. Le do thoil maith dom, d'athair,_

Trevor Lockley

_...I have wasted so much time..._

Translations:

1, 2. My dearest son.

3. I love you, son.

4. Please forgive me, your father.


	5. Part IV: Immersione nel fuoco B

**Cosaint  
**_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer:** Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. _The Departed. _Dir. Martin Scorsese." Warner Bros.: 2006, Film. Eminem, feat. Dr. Dre, Xhibit, Snoop Dog. "Marshall Mathers LP.". Aftermath, 2001.

**Summary: **"Give it a rest, Washington," Sanchez said, speaking for the first time in a very long while. "Fitch is right, we have dinner. We can..." she shrugged in a still obviously unnerved way. "Digest...or something."

**Notes: **Well. So I've been reading the first book in the Evil Genius trilogy by Catherine Jinks and it might influence any of this (though not plot-wise because that's set in Australia). I'm not sure, really, because my muse and brain both do what they want with a story. Also, I just love these chapters that spontaneously split themselves into pieces. *sighs and shakes head*

**Notes, cont'd.:** _The Departed_ apparently _really_wanted to be a part of my little universe here, especially because I already mentioned Boston in the earlier parts, so let's go ahead, be specific, and say South Boston.

**Notes, three:** 'Receiving' is Detroit Receiving Hospital, one of the oldest hospitals in the city and one that is still operating. And I'm tired of calling the baby 'the baby', so he gets a name this chapter, even if possible canon will say different. Lastly, there's a joke in here that only **Adoxerella **will likely get. Don't worry, it's very small.

**Timeline:** 1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall. During _The Departed_, immediately Ofc. William Costigan, Jr.'s funeral but the ending hasn't happened yet.

**Spoilers: **The entire canon as it stands for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.). Nearly the entirety ofThe Departed.

**Rating: M **for language.

Part IV: Immersione nel fuoco - B

_...You're found dead in your garage with 10 o'clock news coverage...Gotta love it, 'cause I expose the façade..._

Dead silence rang as Fitch finished the monologue and lecture he'd heard so many times over his adolescence, he could recite it in his sleep, followed by Bobby actually pulling up the _Demons, Demons, Demons_website on his cell phone and giving his godparents and Sanchez all a good look.

Washington blinked, taking a breath, followed by another and then whispering, "Is there any chance schizophrenia is contagious?"

María, Madre de Dios," Sanchez muttered under her breath, blessing herself before staring at Fitch again in shock. She didn't answer Washington's question.

Fitch fought not to roll his eyes and, instead shook his head, "You know it's not. None of you has to stay here and believe this. I'm being one-hundred percent honest here, none of you wants to know any of this - we could have it taken care of that you don't."

"Wait, what? You'll, you'll what - wipe our minds?" Washington fought not to burst out, glancing back at thenormal world outside in the squadroom. He glanced at Lauren and Sanchez and found them each gripping each other's hands.

"I couldn't do it, but someone else skilled in memory reconstruction could. I'm thinking Angel might be able to - he's pretty good with magick, Wesley Wyndham-Pryce could have done it easily, but he was killed by Cyvus Vail, Kate tells me, before Los Angeles went to Hell for the summer as punishment for Angel's rebellion against the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart. Look..."

Fitch ran his hand through his hair again and Washington could see he was visibly distraught, disgusted with himself for what he was putting them all through. Damon glanced again at his son and wife and then down at his godson, who - by now - had rejoined his father and was holding onto his back, leading Fitch to turn back around and hug Bobby tightly again.

That was when Washington decided. If a thirteen-year-old boy could be strong in his heritage and the knowledge of the _hells_ around them, then he would because he was a man and had to be strong for _his_family, which - by his own choice - now included nearly, possibly everyone in this room if Fitch would get his head out of his ass about Sanchez anytime soon.

He had agreed to this, he'd agreed to support Fitch and go with whatever his partner, his _friend_ was dealing with because in the end, it affected them both. Their sons were now brothers in everything but blood and Washington _knew_ Bobby would protect _his little brother_with everything in his young body.

It was the way he'd been raised and in his blood with or without his father's own troubles adding to the mix.

Washington considered for a second more, then said, "Naw, don't - don't wipe my mind. I can deal. I can at least protect my - our family if we know what's really out there. I can have a clue what the h - what I'm doing."

The expression of relief on Fitch's face was all the reassurance he needed that he wasn't running away. Fitch had lost enough already, Washington refused to consciously add to the mix. He'd already been shot, after all. He and Fitch hadn't been close back then, but the man _had_ come to Receiving to see him even though he really hadn't had to. He could be there for Fitch now, he owed the - his partner, his _brother_so much already.

Washington was about to say as much when Fitch's phone rang, the tone jarring the silence and making Bobby and Lauren both jump. Fitch put up a finger and glanced at the screen, astonishment registering on his face when he saw the number before he glanced at the former Det. Lockley (it occurred to Damon that 'Lockley' was Fitch's middle name, according to his godson) and answered.

"Maddie?"

Damon studied Lockley's face then, the same astonishment coming to hers, and - which Damon didn't expect - Bobby's faces. Apparently his godson knew who his father was talking to, as well.

"Maddie, Maddie, calm down, okay? I can't understand you when yer cryin' and - "

Damon found himself surprised, again, as Fitch's voice took on an accent he'd never heard from him. Ten years in Detroit and the man still sounded like the New Yorker he was born and mostly raised as, but the second he'd answered that call, you'd swear he was from Boston or somewhere close.

"Maddie. Calm down. Ya gotta calm - what, Katie? Is - how'd you know Katie's - okay, yeah, SIU, you can get someone to tap any phone in the country you want and trace it, fine. Why'd ya call my phone if ya want ter talk ter Katie?"

Lockley immediately stepped forward, running her hand over Bobby's longish hair as she passed and he let her, but kept his eyes focused strictly upon his father. Fitch turned and spoke quickly to her, a Boston Irish accent thick on his tongue now as he reiterated, "Costello's dead, yeah, ike Stram? Maddie's...well, here..."

_...What about the baby?_

Fitch handed Lockley his phone and, immediately, she paled at what Damon could clearly hear were a stream of expletives pouring out of it at Lockley who, to her immense credit, took it in stride.

When 'Maddie' finished cussing Lockley out, Lockley took a deep breath and nodded, "Yer right, Maddie - I-I did all those things, I did them to Louie and...and to you an' everybody. I'm sorry."

Tears were coming to her eyes, but she merely swiped at them and nodded again, even though 'Maddie' couldn't see them.

"I'm sorry, Maddie, I'm sorry. Thank you. No, I'm not. I swear on our parents' graves."

Lockley paused, breathed a sigh of relief, and then resumed the conversation, "Lou says ya told him Frank Costello's dead, I know, like - like Al Stram's dead, now, too. May they rot in pieces, the sick bastards. Costi-what, ya got involved with a Costigan, Maddie - they - " Lockley blinked even as Fitch started and turned back to stare at her in shock.

_...I'm really sorry... I swear to God I am. I'll get you out of this. It won't be immediately but I will get you out. Two weeks at most..._

"_Officer William Costigan, Jr._ was deep with Costello's crew, in contact with the also dearly departed Captain Queenan and with Sean Dignam? Yeah, I remember him, he lived on Auntie Comnya's block - used to call me _Baibin_ - which thanks...little mealy-mouthed _faccia di merda_- anyway, his little cousin, Faith's over in England with the ICW! The guy...he breathes a blue streak and yer in sessions with him 'cause of poor Queenan? Maddie, ya need to take a leave of absence if - if yer grievin' about Costigan...yer pregnant an' gotta save up maternity leave time."

"What?" Fitch asked, awe coming to his face and Washington was struggling to follow the conversation and glanced over to see Sanchez was, as well. Well, there was at least that. Neither of them had ever been to Boston in their lives.

_...Families are always rising or falling in America, am I right?  
Who said that?  
Hawthorne.  
What's the matter, smartass, you don't know any fuckin' Shakespeare?_

"Maddie...okay, Maddie, Louie was right, we're on cell phones here, we can't understand ye if ye start cryin' again..." Lockley flinched slightly and stared at Fitch's phone for a second. "She hung up. Lou, Maddie's - "

But Lou shook his head, "I heard ya, did she say Costigan was the father?"

"I think she said she _hoped_he was the father, she said she couldn't handle bein' the mother of the baby of a ratfink mole like Colin Sullivan. She's left him already, moved back into her old place - lease hadn't run out yet. She says...well, I couldn't understand much more, but I think she wants to talk to you again later."

"What's a mole?" Bobby asked and Fitch sighed heavily, "Nothin' you need to know unless you become a cop."

"But I'm the son of a detective," Bobby tried to reason, a winning smile coming to his face, but Fitch wasn't having any of it.

"And when the _son of a detective_graduates the academy and becomes an officer of the law, he'll know all kinds of things - like what a mole is."

Fitch breathed out heavily through his nose and then sighed when Bobby asked something else, "So does this mean we're going to Southie?"

Fitch sighed, "No, we can't. It's too dangerous - "

"I can fight," Bobby objected and Fitch took him by the shoulders. "If I catch you fightin', your ass is grass, understand? You're not trained and the only things you would ever fight if you were go bump in the night."

Bobby scowled, but then had the foresight to ask, "So how do you take down suspects?"

"Very gently, now no fightin'." Fitch let him go, then.

Washington snorted. "'Very gently', I've seen your _very gently_."

"You damned sure haven't seen my _very rough_," but Fitch actually grinned and Washington was almost stunned again.

"Do I _even_want to know?" he asked after getting his presence of mind back again.

Fitch sighed, again, himself, "If I promised you I'd take you out patrolling tonight, I'd have to promise Bobby I'd take him sometime soon because neither of you are trained in hand to hand...and I refuse to do that. Katie, you said you knew Faith Lehane personally - as in not the baby we remember?"

Kate nodded, "Arrested her myself back when she wasatoning for past sins...never knew she was underage - I'd've - "

"Done the exact same damned thing."

Kate started to tell her brother to fuck off, but stopped because of the children in the room. "Shut up, Lodovico Lockley Fitch," she offered tiredly.

Damon - and Sanchez, for that matter - now stared at Fitch again, "Your name's Lodovico?" he asked his partner.

Fitch rolled his eyes, "Yes, whatever - I _am_ half-Italian, my mother named me, and _if you recall_, Lockley's our father's last name. Lodovico is a form of 'Louis'. Trinchen's biological mother named _her_, and it's a German form of 'Katherine'. Can we go to dinner now?"

"Give it a rest, Washington," Sanchez said, speaking for the first time in a very long while. "Fitch is right, we have dinner. We can..." she shrugged in an obviously still unnerved way. "Digest...or something."

Bobby fought the urge to scowl, "And I can have money for pizza since Sean and I can't go, which...interesting...Sean - Irish..."

He adopted a thoughtful pose and Sanchez found herself amused and rather comforted again. Bobby was a good kid.

"You order anything on Pay-Per-View..."

"You're the lawnmower, I _know_, Dad!"

"Just checking."

"Why?"

"You're thirteen."

Bobby took offense to that, "What did you do when you were thirteen?"

"He called me a - " Kate started, but Fitch dashed over with inhuman speed and clapped his hand over her mouth, even though it was only a couple of feet. The Washingtons and Sanchez could only stare.

"Now it's _really_not fair that I'm not going to dinner," Bobby snapped, but only threw his hands up and asked again, "Money for a pizza, Superman?"

"Only because if I don't, you'll burn down the apartment," Fitch sniped back and Bobby visibly restrained himself from overreacting.

"Burn _one lousy quiche_!"

Louis stopped himself from reiterating what Bobby had told him about setting fires, remembering that that likely wouldn't have happened if Fitch, himself, had had his absentee ass around to stop him in the first place and simply removed his hand from his sister's mouth, glaring at her all the while, before also removing his wallet and giving Bobby a sum of bills.

"You know not to keep all that on you at once," he warned yet again, but differently - almost as an afterthought.

Bobby only gave him a side-along glance, "This...isn't pizza money."

"It's for-while-you're-here money. You'll be here three weeks, including Christmas, you've gotta do something with your time and can't spend all of it with me. I'll show you around the city again - if you come back during Hockeytown, we'll go see the Red Wings play, like you wanted and I'll try to get you a Steve Yzerman jersey in the meantime - long story - and some of that's cab fare because the buses are crap. Call ahead and they'll come pick you up. I'll give you a list that services my neighborhood. They don't just drive around like back in the city. I'll give you more later on if you run out."

"Hockeytown?" Bobby asked, glancing around but all the Washingtons and Sanchez did was grin and chuckle. Uncle Damon mimed hitting a puck.

"Yzerman's been retired for years, Fitch," he said, but Bobby's father ignored his partner's logic. "How many Stanley Cups did he win us?"

Washington rolled his eyes while taking note of the 'us' comment, and Fitch smirked slightly, "I thought so."

Kate was still concentrating on the money in Bobby's hands, "You know, big brother, this might be why Mahajan there, thinks you've been on the take..."

"He better not or I'll kill him. You didn't get the same letter I did, after Dad died? Or - "

Kate nodded and was going to reply, but was interrupted by a yelp, which gathered everyone's attention.

"This is an inheritance! From your dad!" Bobby asked, appalled, and tried to shove the money back at his father, who gently slapped his hands away.

"And your grandfather, who loved you very much, also set some aside for you. You'll get it when you're eighteen."

Bobby blinked and looked at both his father and aunt, then, "He knew about me?"

Fitch shrugged slightly, "I had your mother send him pictures of you when you were first born and everything up until you were a year old. He died when you were one. If you wanna read the letters and see the stuff he sent me when I was younger up until then...I guess you can, but I want them all back."

Bobby brightened curiously, "Do you have any pictures of him? Of my grandpa?"

Kate stepped in again, "I have more recent ones, but your dad's got ones from when we were kids. We'll pool 'em for you. That way, you can have pictures of all of us."

"Is any of Southie in it?"

Fitch and Kate both nodded.

"Yep, all the way up and down South Boston, even the North Shore," Kate added.

"Who's Sean Dignam?"

Both Fitch and Lockley paused before Fitch winced and Kate sighed heavily, "He's with the Massachusetts State Police. Staff Sergeant."

But Bobby wouldn't accept that, "He's not just a Statie, he lived by your aunt's and has a younger cousin who's that Slayer, Faith, who's in England now, who you arrested once - you said he used to call you 'strange' in Irish, I guess 'cause you're half-German. And he worked with Officer Costigan, who's dead and not a...whatever...I'm guessing not crooked or something - and maybe the father of Cousin Maddie's new baby."

Kate narrowed her eyes at Fitch, who stared right back with a pointedly blank face, and then said through gritted teeth, "If your son doesn't become a cop with his papa's mouth and ears and all his questions, I will _hunt your narrow ass down_and kill you, myself."

But Fitch objected over Washington's muted yet animated snickering, "I am hardly narrow. Not wide, but not narrow, definitely."

With that, Kate shoved out a breath, punched Fitch in the shoulder, ignored his subsequent laugh, and said, "We've gotta do something about Maddie. _Now_, Lou, before dinner. Get Dignam on it if you have to...the giant turd..." she finished with a whisper, but Bobby snickered anyway.

That shut Fitch up.

"What's wrong with Cousin Maddie?" Bobby asked, now concerned. "A baby's a good thing..." Then Bobby paused, "Well, I mean, a rat's a bad thing, and Costigan being dead if she liked him so much, but a baby cancels some of that out. At least, I think."

Against their wills, both Fitch and Kate smiled.

"Alright, you lovesick puppy, we'll have her talk to you, too," Fitch suggested before sighing and rubbing his hands over his face again. "First."

"You still don't do that thing where you don't wash your hands for hours, do you?" Kate asked suddenly, and Fitch glared at her through his fingers.

"Ew!" Bobby flinched and tried to jerk away from Fitch, but his father grabbed and held him fast. "Ha ha ha ha _ha_. Yes, I wash my damned hands and need I remind you, I was eight? Didn't really get the concept of germs yet. How do you even remember that, you were two!"

"You didn't wash your hands that time in the bathroom," Washington pointed out and Bobby renewed his struggles as Kate pretended to start retching. Sanchez merely backed away, covering her mouth so her snickers would be muffled, but she knew Fitch heard them anyway.

She didn't join in ribbing him, he had enough problems as it was. Surreptitiously, however, Sanchez used some of the lieutenant's Purell before they finally left her office and Lauren resolved not to let Louis hold Sean for a while.

Oh, God, she hoped Lou didn't start calling him 'Dignam' in revenge for that joke they pulled when Sean was born...

**END**

Translations:

_María, Madre de Dios_- Mary, Mother of God

_faccia di merda_ - Out of many translations - son of a bitch, for my purposes, but lit. a face full of [feces]


	6. Part V: Ma Famille Augmentée

**Cosaint**  
_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer:** Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. _The Departed. _Dir. Martin Scorsese." Warner Bros.: 2006, Film. 3 Doors Down. "Away From the Sun.". Universal Records, 2002.

**Summary: **Damon stared, blinking, "...I think I just learned more about you in the last five minutes than in the last five months. To tell you the truth, I'd be annoyed if I didn't feel like I hit a gold mine."

**Notes: **Well. So I've rewatched the bits and pieces involving Bobby in 'Motor City Blues' and this started to take shape since details were coming back to me. Also, just for future reference, some things I'd forgotten were mentioned about Bobby's character will be explored, if not entirely in this chapter. Definitely beginning to skim the waters, though.

**Notes, cont'd.: **The title of this particular chapter translates as the French for 'My Augmented Family'.

**Notes, three: **Well. Since Already Been Cancelled has fulfilled their destiny once again, I can pretty much do almost anything I want now. Oh, and sign a petition immediately. *nods*

**EDIT:** Because I cannot believe I forgot Fitch is a vegetarian. *appalled, since I'm one, too*

**Timeline:** 1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall. During _The Departed_, immediately following Ofc. William Costigan, Jr.'s funeral but the ending hasn't happened yet.

**Spoilers:** The entire canons for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.). Nearly the entirety of _The Departed_.

**Rating: T **for some implied language.

Part V: Ma Famille Augmentée

_...When the last one falls, when it's all said and done - it gets hard, but it won't take away my love..._

Washington tucked his napkin into his lap when something occurred to him and he looked up at Fitch across their round table before taking the damp towel and wiping his hands with it.

"Fitch - ah, Lou - look, Fitch, ah - " Damon rolled his eyes at Fitch chuckling at his stumbling over what to call him in public. "Anyway. I thought you said Bobby was only going to be in town for a week? Then you told him tonight before we dropped the kids off at your place that he'd be here for three."

Fitch's eyebrows raised in what Damon was beginning to learn was his characteristic 'I'm looking for how to explain a situation' look. "Well, uh, Bobby - he, uh, called his mother and explained about the baptism and some other stuff and they had some words, but then he asked her could he stay for more of Christmas break and got her to say 'yes'."

"Are you planning on telling her anything about what really happened, Brother?" Kate asked, tensing slightly as she noticed that Lou full well heard the pronoun she'd called him.

Lou paused for a moment, but then looked Kate fully in the face, "Well, I guess I don't have any reason not to anymore. I'm just...I'm wondering what to do about what else has come up."

Everyone at the table tensed, then, and Fitch noticed, immediately saying, "It's not that - not Maddie and not...them - it's - Bobby asked if he could move in with me...last night. I - I told him...I told him we have to talk to his mother and he said he can't stand the guy his mother's gonna marry and that guy can't stand him, but the thing of it is Linda had Bobby test for Stuyvesant and he - well, hell, my kid got in."

Kate's eyes widened, even as everyone else stayed firmly in the dark. "You're jo - oh, my God, Lou, how could you keep something like that to yourself!"

"Wait," Damon cut in as the waiters began bringing them their drink orders. "Stuyvesant, as in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn?"

Fitch sighed but shook his head, "Not exactly. It's actually in Battery Park, not far from Ground Zero, unfortunately. It's over a hundred years old, collectively. It's named after Peter Stuyvesant, though it's usually called Stuy 3. But that's not the point. It's one of the most competitive schools in the country and specializes in science and math, though it has tons of stuff for the kids to do. Thousands test but not many get in...it's..."

Fitch shook his head in awe, but then got back to the point. "But it doesn't matter, really, because Bobby doesn't want to go."

"What? Why not?" Kate asked, astonished and not bothering to hide it.

"He wants to move here with you and go to high school in Detroit," Washington said quietly and Fitch nodded.

"His mother just about hit the roof. If she hadn't been on vacation, I'm pretty sure that would have been his butt."

"But if that school's so good and Bobby's so smart, then why wouldn't he want to go - aside from you?"

Fitch shook his head again, sipping his wine. "That's just it. He doesn't care about that part. He and the new guy don't get along so hot and, anyway, he says he's tired of New York and his mother had him for ten years all to herself and he wants time with me now."

Everyone was quiet then until Lauren spoke up, "But you think Stuyvesant's a great opportunity for Bobby, too."

Fitch sighed and nodded, "Yeah, I-I do. You have no idea. When I was his age, I would have killed to go there, but I went off to England instead. I don't know, maybe because it was at home and London wasn't. I hated London."

"If Bobby and Linda's fiancé don't get along, it could affect his grades and then he'd get expelled like you were from the Academy," Kate reasoned and Lou nodded, conceding her point.

"I just don't know where he'd go here - I mean, there's no denying he's a New Yorker. You idiots don't think I hear any of you talking about my accent, but I do. I'm not deaf."

Washington raised his hands, sitting back slightly, "Hey, I never said a word to that effect."

Fitch snorted, then, "Of course not, you just got there. They still won't leave you alone about that pharmacy crime scene debacle..."

Fitch pointedly did not laugh at the scowl that crossed Washington's face then. "See what I mean, partner? And that was just because you were new to a situation and...it didn't sit well with you."

Fitch stopped fiddling with his napkin and tossed it on the table for a moment, flinging his hands slightly backward, "I don't want Bobby to be 'The New York Kid' his whole high school career. At Stuyvesant, that really wouldn't matter because most of the kids there speak more than one language just from home. It's not like that here."

Sanchez took a deep breath, "I know what you mean. My brother and I got it all the time for speaking Spanish natively even though it was taught as a class. I remember once, he almost got expelled for beating up this one idiot who called him 'Speedy Gonzales' all the time. That got _so_old. They called me 'Chiquita Banana' and I got into fights, too."

"That doesn't even make sense," Fitch objected, thoroughly confused. "Bananas come from the Carribean."

"Tell that to a bunch of high schoolers."

Lou sighed and gestured toward Sanchez as if to completely illustrate his point. Kate sighed, herself, but said nothing.

"Well, in the end, Lou, it's really up to Bobby, right?" Lauren asked, though, trailing a finger along the condensation of her wine, glad she could drink it again. "You'll support him no matter what."

"Yeah. I...I couldn't do anything less."

"So, changing the topic," Damon said more cheerily, "I echo Bobby's sentiment earlier. Are you shipping up to Boston or what?"

"Ha ha ha," both Fitch and Lockley said simultaneously and Damon's grin spread, followed by a chuckle.

"If you recall correctly, I told Bobby no, we weren't going. It's not safe. It's bad enough he's here during all this - "

"Which is kind of my point. If being here's not a problem anymore, then why would South Boston be any different?"

All Lou and Kate could do was laugh softly in reply. "Look, organized crime has pretty much died out here, at least in comparison to New York and Boston. There's just...no comparison. 'Marginally disrupt' is their plan in New England, not 'put a stop altogether'. Yeah, we had that insanity with an attempt at the resurrection of the Purple Gang, but that was easily put down.

"Kids here aren't like they are in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Southie - it's not a quick buck like hustling on your own is. You don't have to watch your own back. All you need is a supplier and you're pretty much in business. In New England, for lack of a better description, things are much more tightly run with gangs working constantly to fill one another's shoes."

"And Bobby grew up in New York so wouldn't he know that?"

"We've lived in Westchester, not Brooklyn. That's a bit higher upstate and actually constructed largely of islands and sounds. It's eleven miles from Columbus Circle, but it might as well be a whole other world, as far as any of that nastiness goes. Linda's family's from Upstate near Haverstraw and mine was from around mid-state in Rome and Sherill.

"My - our parents chose Sleepy Hollow, Westchester, because my mother thought it was hilarious and for job reasons. It was an easy commute, too, by my mother's standards, and a lot safer. It's where we've been ever since, except for Katie, our dad, and I. London was way too populated for my tastes, I couldn't get a moment alone and I bet if I asked Katie about when she first moved to L.A. with our father, she'd eventually say the same thing."

Damon stared, blinking, "...I think I just learned more about you in the last five minutes than in the last five months. To tell you the truth, I'd be annoyed if I didn't feel like I hit a gold mine."

Fitch rolled his eyes, "Uh-huh, yeah, Bobby doesn't want to go to Stuyvesant partially for me and partially because he doesn't feel like the commute - because Linda's fiancé refuses to move, the xenophobic idiot - is worth his time. He said if he moved here, all he would have to do is catch a bus. I told him good luck with that part, but the rest kind of had merit. I've told him I'll think about it but, again, it's his mother's call. She has custody."

"It's not just her call, you - " and here, Kate irritably mouthed the word, 'pussy', which caused Fitch to restrain himself making a face or giving her the finger. "He's your son. You've worked this hard to get him back, he wants to be with you - Str - _he's gone_- why can't you accept that fact?"

But all Fitch could do was shake his head, reciting other words he'd hard more times than he could count, "_We are fighting a war which will never be won. We are sending..._" and here Fitch gripped the table hard enough that it creaked ominously, causing Kate to quickly swipe his hands away again. "_...We are sending children out to die and they will continue to come. And come. And come. And to what benefit? At this enormous cost?_"

Fitch looked at the ceiling and closed his eyes, blessing himself, and Washington suddenly remembered once when he'd asked Fitch to confide something, anything in him, and Fitch had only answered, _I confide in my priest._

"It's not like with - "

"He wasn't a man, Katie," Fitch ground out, eyeing her out of the side of his own. "And there are others like him. Just because - "

"Yes, just because, Louie. Just because there are names written over and over on that board in your squadroom, do you give up? Do you stop trying to erase them?"

Fitch blinked, then, and Damon was shocked to actually see Fitch speechless, as was Sanchez. Damon remembered the words Fitch spoke right before he was shot. _That's what's so great about working homicide: every day feels like your first day._

"Let Bobby grow up," Sanchez said softly, then, reaching out and taking his hand from across the table as the waiters began bringing their entrees. "Let him make this choice instead of his parents always doing it for him. Let him be with you like he wants to, Fitch. It's better than him still being unhappy. You'd never say he couldn't be happy in Detroit."

Fitch chuckled convulsively before nearly snatching his hand back and beginning to fiddle with his napkin and silverware, polishing everything and then placing it obsessively around his plate.

But Lauren wasn't finished, "Aren't you?"

Fitch looked up, caught off-guard by her question, and looked at everyone around him. His - most of his made-up and not-so-much family. He sighed.

"I wasn't. Once."

Sanchez smiled at him and Fitch felt his stomach drop. Maybe this really was the right thing. He breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of the Mixed Belgian Endive salad he'd ordered as they landed before him.

It was time to finally try to stop worrying.

**END**


	7. Part VI: Nocht

**Cosaint**  
_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer:** Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. _The Departed._Dir. Martin Scorsese." Warner Bros.: 2006, Film. 3 Doors Down. "Away From the Sun.". Universal Records, 2002.

**Summary: **"Lodovico, will you please, for once, just be plain and speak - the English that the rest of us speak? Not 'Lodovico Lockley Fitch English'? Bobby can understand you, but I can't."

**Notes: **Well. So I've rewatched the bits and pieces involving Lou and Linda, this time, in 'Motor City Blues' and this started to take shape from their dialogue, which - needless to say - was strained.

**Notes, cont'd.: **I've decided that, in keeping with the tradition I've already set up, Bobby's legal name has always been Roberto Garrety. Just a tidbit for later use. Also, right in episode seventeen, there is a reference to Bobby being taught how to hack the 1300 precinct mainframe and Fitch doesn't react in surprise or anger at all. I've decided to use that. Also, a respectful nod to John Elder Robison and his fine automobile restoration service in Amherst, Massachussetts.

**Notes, three: **There is a very clear reference to Dawn's pre-Sunnydale escapades in 'Slayer, Interrupted' here. I figure she wasn't the first to do anything like that, especially since when Wes was six or seven, he brought that bird back to life and his mother was so impressed with his magick. Also, Willow always said she hoped she'd meet up again with Oz one day and that they'd always have something. I'm making use of that, as well.

**Timeline:** 1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall. All of _The Departed_has now happened, including the last moments.

**Spoilers:** The entire canons for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.). The entirety of _The Departed_.

**Rating: M **for language.

Part VI: Nocht

_A hundred days have made me older since the last time that I saw your pretty face...A thousand lies have made me colder and I don't think I can look at this the same...But all the miles that separate disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face..._

"We were already havin' trouble, you and me, before I decided to leave."

"You really wanna get into this?"

"Yes, I do!"

"Well, I don't think that we should."

"Well, I think that we have to!"

"Whatever it is that you feel like you need to say, or what you _want _to say? Say it to Bobby."

"What happened never meant that I didn't love you or Bobby!"

"No, but you show me the difference. Draw me a picture - make me understand."

"Linda, I just want you to stay a couple days, I don't want you to go on thinking what you're thinking - okay? It _never _was what you imagined it was."_ - Detective Louis Fitch, Linda Garrety, 'Motor City Blues', 1.17. Detroit 1-8-7;_

Linda squeezes Mark's hand, careful to maintain a humanistic grip, and gives him a tentative smile. They're on their way into Detroit Metropolitan Airport now, coming back to this city not only to pick up Bobby, but to speak to Lou about Bobby's call several days earlier saying he wanted to leave Westchester and come to live with his father in Detroit because he was ready to stay with Lou now.

Linda, of course, disagreed and had vehmently put the idea down, reminding Bobby about how he'd sat the Stuyvesant test and gotten in and how important that was, but Bobby wouldn't be swayed and had even mentioned his father's sister, Kate, who had never once bothered to keep in touch with any of them and was suddenly deciding that Lou and Bobby were so important and worth her damned time.

She doesn't know Kate had literally been to Hell and back and finally realized what she had been missing, but that isn't the point right now.

Linda takes a deep breath as they leave the airport terminal and hail a cab to Lou's apartment, Linda fully prepared to do Bobby's packing for him if that was what it takes, but when they get there, Lou and Bobby aren't alone. A couple - the male obviously Lou's partner, though Linda only knows him as 'Uncle Damon', as Bobby has so enthusiastically called him, and his wife, an 'Aunt Lauren'.

The infamous Detective Ariana Sanchez isn't there, but that was just as well. It was bad enough Lou's partner and his family are here for what she has to say to her own. Part of - her own. Part of.

Linda takes another deep breath and knocked firmly, but she could tell Lou was already on the way to the door. When he answered, he was wearing a Detroit Tigers t-shirt, jeans, and - well, Bobby told her they call sneakers 'gym shoes' here. Everything but the jeans is stark white. Lou's father had taught him how to do laundry well from a young age, she remembered.

Immediately, now that she is up close to him again, Linda can see his eyes flash an iridescent tone, something they do without warning - usually when Lou is suprised, particularly by her. Lou glances over at Mark and immediately the iridescence turns that dark blue they somehow manage and Linda reaches out, gripping Lou's forearm even as he starts to open the door more widely. He isn't about to just let Mark into his 'territory', Linda knows, and she has to try and quash his anger now, for Bobby's sake.

"Lou, is there somewhere we can go and...and talk?" she asks as quietly as she could, but even before she finishes she could see that defiant expression she knows so well taking shape on Lou's face as he backs up and gestures to the living room at large just behind the door.

Linda peeks in and sees a very surly Bobby perched with inhuman grace atop his suitcase, something Lou's partner's wife apparently can't stop herself glancing at. Before Linda could get upset, however, Lou pulls her back to the conversation at hand.

"Whatever you want to say, you - me - " Lou gives Mark his own surly yet dismissive expression, which Linda can feel Mark bristle at, but knows the Marine has no chance at besting Lou, should her ex-husband decide to get the drop on him. There was just nothing he could do.

"We can say it all right here. You didn't want me to say anything to you? Just Bobby, well, too late - Trinchen took care of a lot."

Trinchen.

Linda tries to hide her own scowl, but is unsuccessful at keeping Lou from seeing it entirely. Lodovico's sister's own name is Trinchen. God only knows what she's told their son about anything.

Linda takes a deep breath _again_and steels herself. Before she can speak, howevever, Lou halts her.

"Ya might want to keep in mind, Bobby's godbrother's here - kid's only six months old. Don't wanna go sayin' anythin' you'll _regret_."

The emphasis Lou had put on the word 'regret' raises both the hairs on Linda's neck, as well as her own hackles.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Lou - "

"No, I don't," Lou cut in, this time full-on glaring at Mark, who rises to the challenge, but stays quiet as she'd asked, if only to help keep the peace. "But you do, bringing him to my place unannounced - "

"You made those people our son's _godparents_without even consulting me!"

In one swift movement, Lou puts an arm around Linda's shoulders and sweeps her into his apartment where Bobby meets her with his deepest scowl yet and before Lou could close the door, Mark follows, but not quickly enough to keep it from squashing his foot. He bites back a groan and Lou throws out a cursory 'sorry', but everyone present knows he doesn't mean it.

"Well, to be fair, Linda," he continues as though nothing has happened. "You had Bobby sit the Stuyvesant test without consulting him. He doesn't want to go."

"It's not up - "

"It's not up to the kid where he'll go to school for the next four and a half years? Really? No say whatsoever. Gee, I remember that. Wasn't fun, let me tell you. I remember runnin' away a buncha times 'til they finally had enougha me and tossed me to the DRI."

It isn't until then that Mark becomes the center of attention. "You know anythin' about the DRI, _Mark_? My ex-wife, my son - hey, me? We nothin' but science fair projects to you or are you on the up and up? Because I'll be - "

Lou glances at the still-sleeping form of Sean in Lauren's arms before reforming his sentence. "I will _not_let you lock them up in some facility, prodding at them, studying them - "

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sir - " Mark begins, but Lou cuts him off.

"Of course you don't, clandestine and all that. But that's what you were so interested in Linda for, huh - why you and Bobby can't seem to do nothin' but butt heads? Nothin' but pet projects to your superiors, right?"

"Lodovico, Mark served in Afghanistan!" Linda cuts in sharply, as quietly as she can, however, with the baby present.

Lou rolls his eyes, "Yeah, yeah, so he says. Whatever. Bobby knows to stay away from him and that's all I care about. Well, that and the fact that you wanted me to draw you a picture, Lin? Well, I can _draw you a terrifically bloody picture now_if you care to see it."

Lou's eyes take on that iridescent tone again and Linda hopes Mark isn't backing away or, worse, preparing for what he thinks is a fight.

Quietly, she reaches over and takes hold of his hand, gripping it, silently asking him for patience.

"Or do you not know what she is? What I am, what my - our son is? Huh? Do you have any idea?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you mean, sir," Mark answers respectfully and Linda tries to ignore the way her blood is running cold.

"Louis," she tried, but Lou is ignoring her now in favor of sizing Mark up again. "Stop it!" she snaps as quietly as she can manage. "Please! What are you going to do, blackmail me?"

Lou looks at her, surprise on his face now. "What? No. I want to know he's not going to slice and dice our kid up and put his cells on some Petri dish for the DRI to look at up close and personal-like."

"Of course not!"

"Oh, my God," Lou's partner was going now and he was looking at Bobby, who met his astonishment head-on, a bit of a smirk on his face.

"So you told them!" Linda bites out, glaring her worst at Lou, who - instead of getting a guilty look, merely watches her back, his face completely blank that way she hates more than anything.

"I told them about me. Washington's a detective, it's his job to draw dots and connect them. He's young, but he's good and he'll protect Bobby with his life if need be, part of my reason for leaving the responsibility of _getting him back to you if the worst had happened_ - "  
Lou pauses, "Well, hey, maybe you don't think it's the worst anymore. Like I said, you and me, we were havin' problems long before Al Stram showed up anywhere to make them all the worse."

"Al Stram? What - that gangster that they found dead in Canada? What's he got to do with any of this?" Linda asks, now completely nonplussed.

"Same thing Frank Costello's got to do with my cousin, Madolyn, Lin - maybe nothin', probably everything."

"Will you - " Linda forces herself to stop and collect her thoughts, inviting herself to a seat on Lou's empty chair that she now knows he'd been sitting in before she arrived. She glances up through her fingers and sees a Tigers game playing on the television. Confused again because it wasn't baseball season yet, Linda is almost thrown off her point before she realized it was a DVR'ed game on pause.

Of course, Lou can't watch them live. He had likely been working when this one originally aired. Linda sighs and glances at Bobby, who had a red and white Detroit Red Wings jersey with a large white 'C' in one corner on under his coat. Lou had turned the game on for Bobby because he'll be gone long before baseball season starts and he won't get to go to Comerica Park because Lou knows Linda won't ever let Bobby come back to Detroit after this.

She'd come back to get him early after finding out what Lou had done with his guardianship behind her back. Bobby is glaring at her and she knows that even when they get home, he won't speak to her for who knew how long. He had his father's face, her Roberto.

"Lodovico, will you please, for once, just be plain and speak - the English that the rest of us speak? Not 'Lodovico Lockley Fitch English'? Bobby can understand you, but I can't."

Surprisingly, she hears Lou's partner snort only to be shushed sharply by who she assumes is his wife.

"Yes, you can, Lin," Lou says quietly. "Just because you don't tap into it every day, don't live it every day, doesn't mean it's not there. I hated it when I found out, but...it made sense. All I could think about was what Anna used to tell me. _You are very unique, Lodovico. Do you realize just how? To anyone's knowledge there is literally not another child like you, because - you see - they simply don't live long enough to reproduce, but you were a lucky early start, weren't you? And your mother lasted a long time...longer than most...maybe longest of all..._"

Linda's breath hitched in her throat then and she stared at Lou now before shaking her head 'no'. "Lou - no, it _can't_! I'm not - it doesn't manifest in a girl who hasn't reached or has already surpassed puberty, you _know_that. Your mother was fifteen - it - no!"

"You know about the Great Activation Willow Rosenberg did just like I do. Only I didn't have to wait for that, did I? No more than Connor Angel did - no more than Bobby, because the rules are different for Y chromosomes, aren't they? You know, it's amazing he's here at all. Everything I heard said - "

"Lou!"

"Oh, you mean you _haven't_ told him - you're gonna marry the guy and he _supposedly_has no clue. Why do you think he and Bobby can't say two words to each other without one of them gettin' angry? Why, Linda - come on, you know this as well as I do."

"But he's a boy and you're a man - it doesn't work that way!"

"Tell that to Connor Angel, as I said! Tell that to Angel - if one of us ever dies and was good enough to get to the higher planes, tell that to Connor's mother, Darla! Tell him what he's not! Tell us what we're not!"

"So how's movin' to Detroit gonna fix that, huh, Lou? How's it gonna stop it, since you say Bobby's three-quarters instead of just one!"

Both Lou's partner and his wife both gasp, but Linda forced herself to ignore them. "How, Lou!"

"Because you've denied it. They sent notice out to as many as they could find, I know they did because I got one. I dreamed it. Rosenberg spoke to me, Summers did, too. They said I was an anomaly, so was Bobby - but it didn't matter. We were already _strong_, but could we handle what it was going to throw at us now that they could all find us? But I told them they were too late. Stram had already found me, found Bobby. The Angel kid - do you know where he grew up, Linda? Do you? This ain't nothin' new for us and I told them that.

"This was all before I met Detective Clock Radio here, but it doesn't matter because if they come after Bobby, they're gonna come after him and Lauren, too, and Sean. They've been comin' after us since before Bobby threw the remote out the window and it got stuck in that tree trunk when he was ten months old. Since I was five and did that spell that brought my teddy bear to life because I was lonely and it backfired and the magick expended almost killed me.

"My pappa forbade me to do any ever again, but he knew I had to break that rule once they stuck me in the Watcher's Academy after my mamma died. Anna gave me an amulet that I still have. I don't normally take it off, but I did once and was almost shot because I wasn't payin' attention. A detective who's now dead saved my life that day."

Linda watches as Damon Washington's eyes widen and she knows he realizes what Lou is saying. The younger man puts his hand to his chest and made a fist and Lou actually smiled a bit. "And you were so worried about what I was writing in your peer review." He snorts and Washington is too stunned to make a rebuttal.

"Bobby told you his godbrother's name is Sean, I know he did. But the point is that I made sure that when they decided to become Bobby's godparents they had all the information they could handle. I even offered to have Angel wipe their minds if they didn't want the jobs. But they've sworn they do.

"And we went back to the church were Sean was christened and made this official. It's not just a figure of speech here. Bobby was baptized again and Sean was connected to him because the priest made them both brothers in God's eyes, not just as a symbol."

Lou ignores Linda's speechlessness and turns away, talking more to himself now, as usual, than anyone in the room. "Well, there _is_a symbol, but you can't see it. No one will. Not unless Damon, Lauren, you, or I die. And while proximity's the best thing, because I knew you'd be up in arms about this, I asked the priest to strengthen it because I knew you'd come back here dragging Bobby back to New York even though he doesn't want to go and you said he could stay here for three weeks, but the second you found out about all this, you renegged and said 'no' and told him he was goin' home. But you have to remember, Linda. Home isn't just where they have to take you in and all that bullcrap."

By now tears are clouding Linda's vision. "It's where...w-where a Slayer wants to be, needs to be, to protect. Is drawn. You didn't...you didn't just pick Detroit. Something about this place is in your blood. But...Lou. You owe me this. If I'm leaving Bobby here with you until he goes to college or-or dies when somethin' comes after him, damn it, you owe me a goddamned explanation. I know what I told you, but I take it back. You said it was never what I thought it was, well what the hell. Was. It?"

"Does the Big Boy Dress Blue want to know? Or does he even need to?"

Linda resisted the urge to roll her eyes, but finally acquiesced to Lou's suspicions. "Mark, do you work for the Demon Research Initiative? Have you ever? Were you dispatched to the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, California, before it collapsed in on itself? Have you ever been to the one in Cleveland, Indiana?"

"Cleveland?" Detective Damon Washington obviously can't stop himself from saying in disbelief, but he is completely ignored by her as she stares at the man she is going to marry, letting the Slayer senses she usually suppresses come to the fore.

She will tell if he is lying.

"No, Linda. My deployments were to Egypt and to Germany when it was first united."

Linda breathes a sigh of relief, but Lou merely snorted sharply, "You're so far out of practice, you may as well be human, my love."

"Stop - " Linda starts to say, but Mark interrupted her. "She _is_human, what are you - "

"And _you_ have been debriefed _but_ good. Why don't _you_call her 'dear' or somethin'?"

"That's none of your - "

"He never does, Dad," Bobby cuts in, the dark expression on his face now aimed squarely at Mark. "He never calls her anything but her name. And he makes all these phone calls on his cell he doesn't want Mom to know about. To places like Uttar Pradesh and St. Petersburg. Collect, even though the cell is untraceable and sounds like a throwaway even though it doesn't look like one. He has a new one every week. The voices on the other end are usually either British or Italian, sometimes Irish, Indian, or Russian, though - like I said."

"What are you doing lis - "

"Excuse me?" Linda cannot help but ask, turning to face Mark, who whips from glaring flames at Bobby to an instantly placating expression with her.

"It's for work, _honey_- "

"Oh, don't start now! Work for the DRI?" Linda cannot help but protest now and Mark's eyes widen as his mouth falls open.

"What - no!"

The Marine - or so he says - tries to keep from glaring at both Lou and Bobby, but manages to fail, and by now Lou's retrieved his gun from the shoulder holster he had hidden behind his couch and his partner has gotten his own gun while shunting his wife and the boys both into what Linda can see is Bobby's room here. Linda can see a computer and would ask Lou why Bobby is allowed one, but her mind keeps going blank.

"Is the Watcher's Council keeping tabs on my ex-wife and son?" Lou asks in a deadly, dangerous voice he's never used around her and her skin prickles again because he sounds like a Slayer to her. She'd know that tone anywhere and she's never even used it herself, never even heard it personally before now. Lou always kept his work and home life completely separate before now.

Everything in her is electrified, as if she's touched a live wire, but she can only stare at the man she thought loved her, losing his usually stone-cool under the glare of the son of a Vampire Slayer.

"No, sir," Mark finally caves, glancing at where Bobby has gone with the others - Detective Washington has followed Lauren and Bobby - but his eyes are back on Lou in an instant. "Nor the DRI."

"What the hell are you doing, then?"

"Mr. Giles asked me to keep an ear out in case it was true and there was more than one male Slayer that had entered the line."

Linda wants to choke, wants to vomit, but her throat is dry and parched.

"Rupert Giles wouldn't _ask_, let alone _do_anything like that unless he was absolutely certain of the validity of the claim. The Watchers' Council - especially the International Council of Watchers doesn't do things like that anymore. Who do you really work for!"

And, in an instant, Lou's hand is gripping Mark around the throat and his feet - Mark's feet are dangling almost a foot above the carpet. "My sister told me Watchers have been going rogue since the Council was blasted apart some years' back. Who. Do. You. Work. For?"

"No one!" Mark gasps, trying to breathe even as his face reddens as if his head is about to burst.

"Lou, you're gonna kill him!" Linda gasps, horror at both her ex-husband's actions and, moreover the implications of the entire situation, clawing at her inside like a rabid dog.

"Who's to say he wouldn't happily kill Bobby, Mr. I-Work-For-No-One? Who's to say he wasn't gonna kill you once he'd gotten whatever information he needed from you?"

"Lou, you don't have to do this - put - you and your partner can put him under arrest!"

"And whoever he actually works for would have him out in a matter of hours on a technicality. The Los Angeles branch of Wolfram and Hart was the only one actually driven from this plane."

Lou easily brings Mark's face right up close to his own, Mark's feet dragging on the floor beneath him as he's beginning to lose consciousness. "Your bosses won't be too happy you failed. And I know for a fact that Stram's pack is loose now without their boss running the show. He gave me and mine immunity against them, made the call himself before I disposed of him, but you? You're on your own, pal."

Lou finally let Mark go and the Marine fell to the floor, gasping and coughing, gagging for breath.

Linda is staring at him now, a sort of blank fear coming over her, "'Disposed'? You mean...you killed - "

"Did what I had to do to the werewolf who threatened our son's both life and livelihood for as long as he's been alive and tried to dirty me up. That's what I did in Canada and why I missed Sean's public ceremony. That's why the bullets near the front door are silver, Lauren."

This last part is said slightly more loudly and everything behind Bobby's closed door stills once more.

"The majority of the original Watchers in the Council were driven out after Buffy Summers took over. By and large they're now almost all mercenaries or working with them. Like the scum you were about to marry. Who knows what he'd do for money - sell you? You're of Slayer blood even if you were never Activated. Bobby's three-quarters Slayer and _was_Activated when Sunnydale was destroyed.

"He's untrained, any remaining branch of the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart - any of their other dimensions - they'd pay who knows how much just to get their hands on our son. Connor Angel survived Quor'Toth, the darkest of the dark worlds and Hell A. - he's damned indestructible - they're not going to touch him unless they want those fingers detached and handed back to them...but Bobby's untrained and _not_the human son of two vampires. Just...two non-Slayers."

Linda blinks away the tears that had been gathering steadily as she now watched her now-_former_fiancé recover from his near-enough torture on her ex-husband's living room floor. "You're hiding him, like the deal you made with Stram before - keeping him away from...from whoever."

Lou nods. "Stram's former pack is going to get in touch with Daniel Osbourne - he's a benevolent werewolf living in Tibet with Rosenberg - "

"She's with the Council, she did the mass Activation," Linda gasps around her tears and somehow is surprised when Lou wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head, making sub-sonic 'shhhh'ing' noises that verberate in her chest.

"Lou..." Linda whispers and he sighs.

"I know. We're over, we're done. It's not like Summers and Angel with us - or even him and Darla. But I can't just let you stand there and cry, that'd be inhuman."

Linda's breath hitches and she wraps her arms around his neck, crying quietly and listening to Bobby wanting to come out of his room, but being told to stay put by his godfather.

"What now?"

"Well, like I said, Rosenberg's with Osbourne - they're dealing with the fact that Rosenberg overstepped her boundaries when she did the mass Activation. Her magick is starting to overpower her again and it's like with him bein' a werewolf - she's got to control that or it'll control her again, poison her even. But my point is that you're right, you weren't Activated, but Bobby's only thirteen. If I can rig something with his hacking - "

"Lou, you know he's not supposed to do that, he's been in trouble for that already - you're a cop!"

But Fitch held up a hand, asking to finish, "And as long as he's doing legal 'white hat exercises', the ICW thinks they can find a use for him, so he'll get immunity on that condition, but they also think that with him and with Rosenberg, they can strike a middle ground. Bobby can learn legal ways to hack and stay out of trouble that way and she can learn to teach and exercise the control she never had growing up.

"If she feels responsible for him and if Osbourne's there to keep her in line - he's learned a lifetime of control to keep the wolf at bay - then there's no reason Bobby will ever do anything that will get him arrested or worse."

Linda sighs and nods, "You bought him that computer."

Lou shakes his head, 'no', "The ICW sent it on expedited order, actually, through Madolyn with help from Massachussetts SIU, though they don't actually know where the computer went or why. They don't ask questions - you know how Sean Dignam is, everyone's a mushroom. But she's coming here to stay for a while like Katie is - Katie's at the airport picking up them both, Maddie and Dignam - that shithead. I gave her my GPS - Bobby finally taught me how to use the damned thing after we went to lunch when he got here. And they - he and Sanchez, uh, forced me to find out I own a Land Rover."

"Don't ever change, Lou," Linda gives him a small smile, still shaken from earlier's events, but managing to put it aside for now. "And please remember, Bobby can hear you just fine. Stop swearing."

Lou blushes, which actually makes her chuckle, and then he continues, even while reddening even more.

"Anyway, she needs a break from Southie while she's on bereavement and maternity leave - Dignam's arranging the whole thing and accompanying her on the flight at Faith Lehane's - I told you they were cousins, right? - request - and she'll - "

"What?" Linda backs away and looks Lou in the eye. "Bereavement? Maternity leave, since when?"

"Maddie's pregnant since about four weeks ago, she thinks, Lin - " Lou starts to say before jerking away from Linda and turning to hold his hand up, _"Possideo!_" he hisses without hesitation and Mark freezes in place from where he'd been about to attack them both from behind.

Calmly, he turns back around and pinches the bridge of his nose before looking back at Linda's once-again shocked expression.

"Bobby told you he didn't like the guy. Here's why. Now, as I was saying, Maddie wants to find out if the father's Officer William Costigan, Jr. - yeah, I know how it sounds, but he was the only one after his dad who didn't cross the line, though he was in deep with Costello and his crew for over a year - or that ratfink fuckin' murderer, _former_Staff Sergeant Colin Sullivan. I've gotta keep an eye on her, Lin. If it's Sullivan's, I'm - I don't want her to do what I think she'd do. I'd take the kid before I let that happen."

Linda's eyes widen and before she knows it, she's shaking her head, "No. No, tell her - tell her, I'll take it, if...if it's his. You've got B-Bobby and - and Sean."

Lou stares at her for a moment, his face softening and the iridescence coming back to his eyes yet again, the most often she's ever seen it.

"I know you..." he sighs. "You're lucky you were never Called, you know. We only get one - one, uh...I know I'm not yours and, and that's okay, it's gotta be okay. I can live with it because I know you'll be safe. Safer. Even if it means you're my mate, but that I'm not yours. At least you have a better chance of stayin' alive. I'd rather be alone than you die. I guess ya gotta find a new one, though. I - sorry, I couldn't let him just...lie to you..."

"Lou..." Linda finds that her voice is breaking, but this was as overtly honest as he's ever been with her and it was what she'd demanded all that time, asked for now? How could she blame him?

She forces herself merely to touch the side of his face, not to move her hand in any way, before removing it and letting it drop back to her side. "Don't ever be sorry for what you just did. You saved me and Bobby from God only knows what."

Lou purses his lips before nodding and flinging his hands in that so-familiar way that makes her smile again on the inside, "Yeah, anyway, so Maddie's coming here. If we use magick, we can find out a lot sooner who the father is, and you know we'd have to wait if we used regular means. I've told her it's up to her. She and Katie are the only ones who ever knew what my mother was and I would have kept it that way if the Rookie back there hadn't made things so damned difficult and made himself my friend. Bastard."

Against her will, considering the circumstances, Linda laughs, "You could use a friend or two, it's good to let someone in once in a while."

Lou exhales, "Yeah, so...so am I that bad guy or that good guy? Now that you might know and all?"

Linda smiles softly at him now, "Do you _really_think I could call you a 'bad guy' after tonight?"

For the first time more than ten years, Linda sees Lou Fitch smile even as his cheeks color again. She once more forces herself not to touch his face.

"So who's this Detective Ariana Sanchez Bobby keeps going on about? Since you know all about what was going on with me...is she pretty?" Fitch distinctly hears a muffled guffaw from Bobby's room followed by Bobby's higher pitched giggles.

"Pretty? She turns him into a high schooler!"

"Damon!" That was Lauren and Linda had a feeling that they'd be good friends eventually. Both of their - well her former man and Lauren's current - were immature idiots at heart, albeit Lou much more deeply so.

"She does, you should see it!" There's more laughter and by then Fitch is glaring daggers at his son's closed bedroom door.

He turns back around to see Linda watching him expectantly.

He closes his eyes, running his hands over his face yet again.

"Oh, God."

...TBC...

Translation:

_Nocht _being the Irish for 'reveal'.

_"Possideo_ being the Latin for 'freeze'.


	8. Ciontacht

**Cosaint**  
_By Angelfirenze_

**Disclaimer:** Jason Richman and the rest of Remainder Men, Mandeville Television, ABC Studios, etc., own Fitch, et al. Joss and Mutant Enemy own Kate, et al. _The Departed. _Dir. Martin Scorsese." Warner Bros.: 2006, Film. Bayside. "The Walking Wounded.". Victory, 2007.

**Summary: **Damon raised his eyebrows, but otherwise said nothing before something occurred to him. "Your dad's missed you and your mom a lot. This whole thing made him real angry for a long time. I guess I know why now."

Bobby nodded, "Made me angry, too, like I said. Mom just tried to get on with things. What a lie. After Dad left, I remember she cried for a long, long time."

**Notes:** _Ciontacht _is the Irish for 'guilt', which became fitting as hell for this chapter.

**Notes, cont'd.: **I rewatched 'Blackout' and Damon and Lauren's son's name is actually given as 'Martin' during his christening. I've decided 'Sean' is his middle name and the one he'll go by for the most part, with 'Martin' only being used as a formality.

**Notes, three: **Something that bothers me immensely is when Willow/Tara shippers seem to pretend Oz never existed and that he and Willow never had a deep bond of any kind. I love Tara, but Oz meant just as much to her and to ignore that is rather akin to retconning, in my humble opinion. Bigger point, though - Willow and Oz are now a part of this story. Glee.

**Notes, four:** I have no idea why _The Iron Giant _popped into my head during this chapter, but since they used authentic comics (for the most part) in that heartbreaking-damned-movie, I'll just go with it.

**Notes, five: **Let it be known, I usually ship Fitch/Sanchez. I do not ordinarily ship Fitch/Linda. This story, however, is writing itself. Either way, wow, these two are a mess.

**Timeline:** 1.17, Motor City Blues/1.18, Blackout; post-ANGEL: After the Fall. All of _The Departed _has now happened, including the last moments.

**Spoilers:** The entire canons for both Detroit 1-8-7 and ANGEL, though only up to 'Immortality for Dummies' because that's all I've read up to so far. I'm working on getting 'Crown Prince Syndrome' (possibly aka 'Connorland', which hee.). The entirety of _The Departed_.

**Rating: M **for language and for allusions toward adult situations.

Part VII: Ciontacht

Linda tried not to cry as she watched Mark (if that was even his name) being led into a portal to Rome, Italy, that had appeared after her ex-husband had made a call to a number she didn't know, what with not having had the same debriefing or even upbringing that he had (suffered?), nor the connections that remained to this day.

She expected that at least one Watcher-in-training and/or spellcaster of some sort was directly involved in her former fiance's arrest (the ring he'd given her burned around her finger, she was tempted to throw it at him - anywhere, but it would have to wait for Lou's trash can), but it still bothered her on a fundamental level, given her position in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, that she would not see him brought to justice for the deceit and other questionable activities he had performed while under the guise of wanting to become a member of her already strained and fractured family.

And she had _so_wanted it, for herself, for Bobby. For Lou, if it meant he could move on...

She knew, logically, that even in a mundane case, she would have been excluded on the grounds of lack of objectivity, but this was somehow different. This was much more personal.

_Maybe because you've slept with him? Maybe because you'd been hoping he could fill the hole Lou left in yours and Bobby's life and seeing that go up in smoke - _

Linda gave her head a shake, swiping at her eyes and forcing the thought away. She wouldn't cave, not right now. Certainly not in front of Lou's partner, whom she barely knew, even though he was Lou's best friend - which Lou had even asserted himself - and Bobby's godfather. She couldn't cave, not in front of _him_, not _because _of him.

Lou was watching her, not the bright aquamarine glow of the portal Mark was being manhandled into by two ICW guards she, of course, didn't know, and now wasn't even certain weren't corrupt. Lou had said it himself, her senses were terribly dulled from next to no use and she hadn't even been able to suss out the muffled conversation Lou had had on the aforementioned cell phone he'd taken it upon himself to 'borrow' from Mark in order to make the trans-Atlantic call for this to have happened.

So she was surprised, not once but twice - once when suddenly there was a knock at the door and suddenly she heard Boston accents clear as day on the other side, only recognizing one for herself. She'd only met Lou's cousin Madolyn at their wedding, but her impression of the other woman had been favorable, if limited by time. She'd never met this Staff Sergeant Sean Dignam, but she instantly noted Lou's response to his arrival as his entire body tensed before he forced himself to relax, growling and rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Lou, does - does SSgt. Dignam know about...about our - your world?" she asked from where they sat perched with Bobby on one of Lou's couches while the Washingtons were on the other and in Lou's chair. It had been Lou's command that had overriden the protocol to wipe their memories and his threat of using magick to hurt them terribly if they didn't obey him and leave the other (side of Lou and Bobby's) family's minds intact. Both the elder Washingtons' gazes were glued inexorably to the huge blue circle that was closing before their eyes, with Mark and the overseers of his captivity gone and, instead, a pair of short, slender redheads in their place.

Lou shrugged, "He might know whatever Faith Lehane's told him, but I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him since he was ten." With that, the conversation was brought to a halt as he stood and gently prompted Linda and Bobby to follow him as Willow Rosenberg and Daniel Osbourne were gently buffeted by the closing of the portal they'd just stepped out of.

Both bore signs of clearly having lived in Tibet for quite some time, particularly Osbourne who, while already having a reputation for untold patience, seemed absolutely serene even given the circumstances he had to know he was walking into.

Rosenberg was rather less so than Osbourne, but still quite calm, particularly compared to the occupants of the room. When Lou reached her, she raised her hand and murmured something, an aura of white light coming to envelop Lou before fading.

"Generally, people still say 'hello' when they meet someone," Lou griped in a slightly irritated voice, prompting Damon to snort uncontrollably before clamping his hand over his own mouth and nose.

"I'm sorry, Detecive Fitch, but I had to make sure Mr. Folie hadn't placed some sort of gease or something on you without your knowledge. Your family will have to be checked, too, you know - they haven't been safe for more than four years, from what I was able to gather."

"Willow," was all Osbourne said and, instantly, Rosenberg's eyes widened and she realized what she had done.

"Oh, my Goddess," she whispered, her own hand coming to her mouth, as well, this time in horror, as she stared at the - while unharmed -detective, realizing she had violated their rights on several levels before even introducing herself. "I'm so sorry."

Fitch took a breath and pinched his nose before looking back at her. "It's what you're here in the city for. To remember that magick isn't yours to play with, right?"

Willow could barely bring herself to nod, all traces of serenity having been wiped from her as her eyes began to darken slightly. Osbourne took her hand and counted backward from ten while still gesturing silently at Lou's door. "I'll take care of this, you've got to answer your door," he promised, turning toward a now deathly pale and slightly veined Willow (luckily, her hair was still red), leaning his forehead against hers and beginning to chant in Tibetan with Rosenberg eventually joining in even as Lou forced himself to ignore them both and answer his door.

Before Dignam could open his fat mouth, Lou held up his hand, "In there's my six-month-old godson in here, my thirteen-year-old son, and if you say anything like you or Faith are known for, you'll answer to me, Dignam," he ground out before Dignam had a chance to so much as cuss once.

Dignam rolled his eyes, but closed his half-open mouth and simply stepped aside, revealing Kate and Madolyn, the latter of whom, had fresh tears streaming down her face. Without another word, Lou enveloped her in a hug, kissing the top of her head as she finally broke down and began to cry.

Gently shunting her through his doorway and maneuvering her toward where Linda and Bobby sat, Linda immediately rising to hug Madolyn in turn, followed by Bobby, which prompted a tearful chuckle out of Madolyn. "Hey, you," she said very softly, her voice choked, before she looked back at Linda. "Long time no see," she tried to say as loudly as she could before Linda smiled in an equally mournful way and kissed her cheek.

"You were wearing taffeta, if I recall."

"Louie made me promise to be one of your bridesmaids if you'd let me, I couldn't let him down. Spent a lotta time in New York that year, I remember. Lotsa frequent flyer miles - scored me a trip to the Bahamas eventually. Maybe I should finally use it."

"The Bahamas is better than sub zero temperature, we know that," Linda continued to banter and Madolyn gave her a watery smile in appreciation.

Linda turned toward the Washingtons, who both stood, Sean in Lauren's arms, as she said, "Lou's got - well, his partner Damon and Damon's wife, Lauren and this is - God, I'm acting like I didn't just meet any of you four hours ago. I'll let Bobby do the honors, they're his godparents."

Bobby walked forward and hugged Maddie before nuzzling his face in her belly. "It's alright," he whispered before stepping back to see fresh tears coursing down his dad's cousin's face.

"This is my Uncle Damon and my Aunt Lauren and my godbrother, _Martin Sean Washington_, Sean but not Dignam. This is my dad and Aunt Kate's cousin, Madolyn Madden, though I'm not sure anybody in our family calls her her first name."

"Nope, nevah," Madolyn assured, running a hand through Bobby's hair, "I'm Maddie, it's nice to meet you both. I haven't seen this one since he was five and his dad brought him down to the rest of us. He's gotten so big!"

"It's nice to meet you, too," Damon returned, smiling and shaking her hand. "It's nice to meet Fitch's family. For his to meet mine."

Madolyn smiled again, looking down at Sean, who had now just awoken and was clamoring for a meal. "Oh, well, we'll let this one eat. He's good and hungry. But, ah, Madolyn Madden, psychologist with the Massachusetts State Police Intelligence Unit. I've known Louie, Katie, and Seanie there since we were all kids. Louie was oldest obviously."

"I told ya, don't call me 'Seanie' anymore," Dignam griped, but all Madolyn did was make a face at him, which Bobby laughed at before asking, "Isn't it against some kinda protocol for you to see SSgt Dignam, I mean, if you all knew each other from Ye Olden Days?"

"No, you did not!" Maddie shot back, smiling for the first time in weeks, before grabbing Bobby in a hug and kissing his hair again. "You need a haircut and I think I'm just the girl to do it."

Bobby pretended to struggle, but covered his head protectively, "No! No! Dad!"

"You walked right inna that one," Fitch countered, still conferring with Dignam by the door. "You get what's comin' to ya. 'Ye Olden Days'..."

"Am I right?" Dignam agreed, pretending to sneer at Bobby and making a scissors gesture with his right index and middle finger. A smiling Lauren excused herself to Bobby's room, Damon carrying the baby bag with him, and everyone else got back to business.

"I'd love to kick that little sh - "

"Eh!" Fitch cut him off loudly, pointing his thumb back at Bobby. "Just because the baby's gone don't mean ya can start with your usual crap in my house. I don't let Bobby talk to your mealy-mouth for a reason! We're over Folie, awright? He's in ICW custody, that's the end of it right now. Rosenberg and Osbourne hafta get settled with Bobby and the city, itself, and Maddie and Katie'll finish gettin' settled here over at their hotel - if that's where they're stayin', Katie refuses to tell me for some stupid reason."

"Where are you guys stayin'?" Bobby asked from his place under Maddie's arm. "I mean, I know Aunt Kate's stayin' in some hotel right now, but Dad said that's not forever, and now you're here, Cousin Maddie. Where ya stayin? Where's Mom stayin'?"

"Greektown Casino," Dignam bit out and Fitch full-out elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to groan heavily and fall to the floor.

"_Faccia de merde_," Fitch muttered as softly as he could, but Linda still frowned, knowing what he'd said.

"Lodovico, _please_!" she pleaded, sighing sharply. "You're gettin' on Dignam's case, but callin' 'im that in front of Bobby?"

"I'm not Sean!" Bobby griped, but he knew his mother would pay him no mind. Sighing heavily, himself, Bobby threw himself back onto the couch before getting an idea. "Miss Rosenberg can teach me a spell to put all my clothes away for me!"

"Ha!" his father answered, glancing over and seeing both Osbourne and a much-recovered Rosenberg smiling in amusement. "Nah, that's just lazy. Go put your own clothes up as soon as Sean's done eatin'."

Dignam breathed out forcefully before shoving himself to his feet. "I wish I could bring you in on charges, Fitchie," to which Fitch faked a tearful expression. "Awww, is the poor SIU sergeant gotta widdle brusie? Don't mess with me, _Diggie_, or you'll pay fer it."

"Will you two _shut up_?" Kate cut in finally, throwing her hands up from her place in Lou's chair. "I will not listen to this crap for six months!"

"He's not stayin' here for six months!" Fitch asserted, glaring at his little sister. "He's takin' his - he's goin' right back to Southie - _no_, Roberto, we are not going!"

Bobby's mouth clicked shut and he glared mutinously but otherwise said nothing.

"Don't worry," said Willow, finally willing and able to talk. She walked over and pulled her own laptop out of her bag, bringing it to Bobby and his attention. "I'll keep you plenty busy. Now, let's see what you can do and tomorrow morning, Oz'll start you on meditation exercises - and before you ask, your dad learned them when he was a kid, too, if for different reasons. And call me Willow - please! Oz is Oz, too."

"Does my dad have a file in the ICW?" Bobby inquired and Willow raised an eyebrow, "Now wouldn't you like to know. C'mon, let's get started. I want to see you isolate a bug I've inserted into a dummy email account, then trace where it came from and where it's going. If you can do that by tomorrow, we'll see where you're at, and _no_, you're not allowed to skip meals or sleep. This is a daytime only exercise and the point isn't to time you on how fast you can do it, but to see if you can stop working when you're supposed to. It's about discipline, like I'm sure your dad told you."

"But won't it tear into your hard drive while I'm not workin' on it?" Bobby was appalled that Willow would just leave a virus on her computer overnight while knowing about it.

"I've written it so that it only activates while the computer is powered up. The second you shut down, hibernate, or sleep, it does the same thing."

Bobby was impressed, "Wow."

Willow grinned and pulled out a lapdesk, giving it to Bobby, who put the laptop on his legs and immediately got to work. Within moments, the only thing heard from him was a series of clicks blending together.

"Why're we lettin' 'im off for that?" Dignam inquired, staring at Bobby hacking away at Willow's accounts and hard drive.

"Because he's got immunity from the ICW," Linda finally cut in, eager to get Dignam out of her son's business. "Unless you feel like tangling with your baby cousin, Miss Rosenberg and Mr. Osbourne say nothin' of - not the least of which - Buffy Summers and Rupert Giles."

Dignam put both his hands up and then began zipping his coat back up. "Alright, I'm out of this - "

Every adult in the room glared at him and Dignam finally amended himself. "_Popsicle stand_, happy?"

The only answer from Fitch was a wave toward the door while he finally hugged his cousin and kissed the top of her head.

"I guess that means 'get gone'." Kate smirked and Dignam checked around before giving her the finger and whispering, "Shut up,_Baibin_."

Kate smacked his face with the back of her hand and pointed at the door again. "I swear, I will find a way to blow you up, _bastardo_."

"Katie!" Lou snapped, but she merely raised an eyebrow at him, calling him out on the very same thing.

Shaking his head to clear it and laughing, with that, Dignam was gone.

_...Go to church 'cause you need a good cleansing of body, mind, and soul..._

Damon watched Bobby meticulously set up his computer, letting programs load as he put his clothes back away in his dresser and closet.

After that, he removed his usual black suit and tie, ducking into his new adjoining bathroom to change while his godfather waited.

"I didn't know your family was that religious," Damon told him as he knotted his tie in the mirror the way Dad had showed him so long ago. "You go to church _every day_?"

Bobby shook his head, shrugging, "Not every day. Saturdays, Sundays, and Wednesdays for as long as I can remember - usually the full liturgy. Sometimes we don't stay long, just a sacrament if something bad is happening, but it's a rule that we don't go more than three days without Confessing. I guess it's just been a long tradition. I don't think too much about it. Aunt Kate gave me my grandpa's prayer card and my dad gave me my grandma's. I've never seen them before now."

"Your dad has said stuff about bein' Catholic, I guess I just never took him this seriously. We're not, uh, well, I guess mine and Lauren's families are kind of lapsed. At least in comparison to yours. Before your dad went to go take care of Stram, he stood in the lieutenant's office for a long time with his eyes shut, in the corner - I could see him through the glass - and then he blessed himself. I wasn't sure what he was sayin', but he was praying something."

Bobby frowned, not liking to think about the probabilities, "He probably was. If he hadn't been pressed for time, he woulda gone to Mass and had his Last Rites requested, probably. He's fast and strong, but so are werewolves like Oz and...Stram and whoever he ran with. He coulda died, I was so happy to see him because I didn't expect him to come back."

Damon nodded, "I could...I could tell. You know a lot about this stuff," he said, rather uncomfortable now. "You're only thirteen, was it really necessary?"

Bobby finished knotting his tie and turned to stare at his godfather, "My father's the son of a Vampire Slayer, my mother's an un-Called Potential, a werewolf was after me since I was three, you tell me."

Damon blew out a breath, "You're just - you're a kid. You shouldn't be talking like this. You sound like a grown man already."

Bobby raised an eyebrow, "Thanks for the compliment, I think. My dad showed me those letters from my grandpa, but he said there's one I can't see until I'm eighteen." Bobby sighed in exasperation. "His name was Captain Trevor Lockley - he worked with the NYPD like my dad did before he moved here and the LAPD when he moved there with Aunt Kate. He wrote in Irish sometimes, but I'm not so good at reading it. There's only eighteen letters in the Irish alphabet and most of them are consonants. You blend certain letters together to make one sound.

"It's derived from Latin, so yeah, but switching back and forth from English and Irish is hard for me. I haven't spoken it, really, since I was little and I've never spoken German. I speak Italian a lot more, that and Spanish - I learned that at school along with Japanese and my best friend speaks Chinese and is teaching it to me through email, especially now. Willow says the ICW might pick me up for languages, as well, but my mom and dad are iffy about it. They want me to focus on school here."

Damon couldn't help but be impressed, "Damn, kid, you're only in eighth grade?"

Bobby shrugged, "They wanted to move me up, but Mom wanted me to have a _normal childhood _or something. But then she goes and makes me sit for Stuyvesant. She insisted that was still normal.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. We discussed it at breakfast before you guys came over and Dad says if I make it into AP at any school I go to here, he'll let me take the classes. Part of the reason I used to get in trouble, aside from being mad all the time, was because I was so bored. But Mom wanted me to be as _normal _as I could. I think that was a waste. I got all A's without tryin'. It was my behavior grades I always got bad ones on for a long time."

Damon raised his eyebrows, but otherwise said nothing before something occurred to him. "Your dad's missed you and your mom a lot. This whole thing made him real angry for a long time. I guess I know why now."

Bobby nodded, "Made me angry, too, like I said. Mom just tried to get on with things. What a lie. After Dad left, I remember she cried for a long, long time."

Damon now stood in disbelief, "But you were only three..."

Bobby shot him an irritated 'so what?' look and told him, "Eidetic memory. They tested me when I was in first grade because everything everyone was doin' was borin' the crap outta me. I'm smart, whatever. Point is, I remember when my dad left and I've always remembered the tricycle he gave me before he did.

"I used to dream about him a lot. When he visited or called, things would get better for a while. I'd think, _maybe he's gonna come home soon_, but then he wouldn't. I wanted to hate him, but I never could. I just...it just made me sad. Besides, I think he was the one who hated enough for all three of us. He told me there are things in this world, especially his world that he didn't want me near - well, it's my world, too, damn it.

"They both don't like thinking about that. It scares them, that I'll get hurt. Well, I'm already hurt and I'm gonna get hurt some more, so I want them to stop hidin' everything from me.

"Right before he left, they had a real bad argument. Dad punched a hole in the wall and shouted somethin' in a language I don't know. Mom came into my room crying and told me not to expect to see Daddy anymore. I think he fixed the hole with magick because the only reason I knew it was there was because his scent's never left the house and that spot always glowed dark red whenever I thought of him. I think it was a spell."

Damon was outright staring now and Bobby's face closed in anger, snarling, "So I have a f-screwed up family life, not everybody's can be as picture perfect as yours, ya know!"

With that, Bobby snatched the unfinished tie from around his neck and turned to stomp out of the room. Damon reached forward to stop him and Bobby's hand clamped around his wrist, tightening until the older man gasped in pain.

Realizing what he was doing, Bobby's eyes widened in horror as he snatched his hand back and threw himself backward onto his bed, raking his hands through his hair, gripping it as he leaned forward and starting to cry just as his father had done while remembering his grandfather's death.

It was all like a mirror, but he couldn't stop, not even when Uncle Damon sat down beside him and took a bunch of deep breaths before slowly putting his arm around Bobby's shoulders. Bobby froze for a second, but then forced himself to relax.

Uncle Damon was whispering something at him now, but he couldn't understand any of it even though he could hear both their hearts pounding. Eventually, he felt Uncle Damon's chin on top of his head, but this time he didn't falter or flinch, instead turning to grip his godfather's suit jacket and holding on for dear life.

_Daddy _was all he could think.

Damon frowned hard and ventured kissing the top of Bobby's head. When his godson didn't half-kill him, he calmed and simply sat with him, Fitch's words echoing in his head.

Nothing _is more important than what I'm askin' you to do._

So he held on and ignored the throbbing in his wrist, wondering if he was being as good a godfather as Fitch was to Sean because now, of all times, he understood Fitch's hesitation and guilt ten-fold.

_...And I love you to death...I don't think I like you anymore..._

Linda watched Lou stomp away, unable to take listening to what Bobby was telling Damon in his bedroom as he prepared for evening Mass. Her own eyes burned, but a decade had passed and she was long past tears. She knew Lou felt incredibly guilty for what he felt was his role in the dissolution of their family.

Hell, she'd only exacerbated it (_"...Draw me a picture, make me understand..."_) and before she knew it, she was getting up to follow him, some distant part of her glad Trinchen had vounteered to take Lauren and Sean home and everyone else to their chosen destinations, even Dignam. Lou had given her a detailed book on Detroit that she'd apparently read from cover to cover within the past day or so. That and she'd never stopped being a cop.

Linda would have to put away her resentment and somehow thank her sister-in-law - _former_ sister-in-law, God - one day. But for now, she managed to dodge Lou's slamming bedroom door and found herself in a space so full of his scent, full of _him _and who he was, that for a moment she felt lightheaded and had to collect herself.

The room was immaculate, save his unmade bed, and she remembered him once telling her that bedbugs and such found unmade beds inhospitable so he never made his so as not to invite any. But she was getting distracted.

Lou threw himself into the armchair he had sitting before the writing desk she remembered so well as his dark eyes stared up at her, the irridescence back in such force that it was as though she were looking at a wolf in the middle of the night.

"'Just be his dad', huh? That's all you were askin' me to do? Look what the fuck I've already done!"

Linda covered her mouth with both hands as tears finally began to gather in them. She clenched her eyes shut before forcing them open and staring down at this man...whom she loved.

"Right. Look what you've done, destroying the monster who almost killed our son. Giving him a chance at a long life."

"He's a Slayer," Lou snapped and Linda found herself standing in front of him before she knew it, her hand recoiling from having slapped him across the face.

Lou slowly turned to look back up at her, his eyes hooded with further anger, but Linda stood firm.

"Lodovico, shut the hell up." Linda ran her hand through her hair. "This selective memory shit is getting old. You're a Slayer, too, and you've lived even longer than Buffy Summers. You act like everything in your life, in the world, goes wrong because you're in it. Will you wake the fuck up already - the nightmare is _over_."

"And over and over and over in my mind," Lou whispered, staring down now at his hands. He could still smell gunpowder on them, he was certain of it.

Linda sighed and knelt down before him, placing her chin on his knee as she wrapped her arms around his waist. Lou froze for a moment before following her lead and sliding out of the chair onto the floor, allowing Linda to place her head on his belly as he leaned back again, stroking her hair.

They hadn't done this in so long.

"You aren't Superman, Lou," Linda whispered, gripping his waist more tightly and listening to his frustrated sigh.

"No, more like Atomo the Metal Menace."

Linda rolled her eyes, then, "Didn't I just tell you, you aren't a bad guy?"

"You've spent much longer telling me that one can never be sure."

Linda gazed up at him in irritation and astonishment, "Right, that's what you cling to. Damn it, Lou!"

"I almost got an innocent man to admit to a murder he never committed, you think I'm _proud_ of that shit? I can't save anybody, Lin! My only gift is death! Stram is _dead_!"

Linda bent back away from him now, altogether, "Because he was evil! Stram made his choices! He could have left us well enough alone - instead he fixated on you and picked your partners off every chance he got - and you saved Bobby and Damon and his family! You risked your career to do so!"

Lou leveled her with an even gaze, "The career I hide behind and use as an excuse?" he asked sadly and Linda silently swore vehemently, reaching down again to run her hand through his hair, "I shouldn't have said that, alright?"

But he only shook his head, "No, no, you were right to say it. Ten years of watchin' Bobby go through Hell, just tryin' to be there for 'im because my absentee ass - "

Now Linda was furious, "Louis. Shut. The. Fuck. Up." Linda was back on her feet now, glaring as hard at him as she could, having moved so fast she was lightheaded again. "Honestly, you know what's been the hardest part of all this? Knowin' that every single second you've been here, away from Bobby - away from _me_, you've been here hatin' yourself, never thinkin' you were doin' anything right by us and I admit - I didn't help. I was angry, I - "

Linda brushed her hair away from her face again. "Part of the reason I tried everything with - with _him_- was because I wanted to try to fill the void you left in me."

Lou started to interrupt, but Linda put her hand up. "Let me finish. You said you hoped I could move on, that even if we weren't each other's mates, like I'm yours, that I could at least be happy with someone else, but - Lou - there's no replacing you, either. I hoped _you _could be happy with this Ariana, but will you even try?"

Fitch looked down, fidgeting with his hands, "I...I invited her to dinner before you came back. We had to go out on a call. It...it hasn't worked out. The closest we've come is dinner one time with Katie, Damon, and Lauren. That's it. And once before that at American Coney Island that Bobby set up. He didn't tell me she was coming."

Linda gave him a soft smile, "Well, that's a step. How many Coney Islands are there here, anyway?"

Lou raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know, a buncha different ones. You're still happy, even though you say I'm your mate just as much as you're mine."

Linda only smiled further, "What is it they say about acceptable happiness?"

"Well, what about you?"

"I can try again. For now, can't I just enjoy the time I do have with the love of my life and the father of our child?"

Lou started to say something bitter, but Linda held her hand up this time, "I don't want to hear it. Just...just be quiet."

All Lou could do was stare at Linda, then, and - now frustrated beyond her wits - she grapped him by the lapels of his own black suit and pulled him up away from his armchair, sealing her mouth over his. Lou flinched at first but found himself melting into the kiss, reaching up to pull Linda's blouse out of her skirt and run his hands over the particularly sensitive trail along her spine.

Sure enough, she moaned into his mouth, urging him onward even as he suddenly broke away.

"Partner and Bobby are in his room - they're not deaf..." But he was gasping, his face pale even as he panted breathlessly.

"You know more magick than anyone in this apartment," Linda reminded him. "I've never let Bobby try it."

"Lin...this...this isn't right, you just - "

"Is that what you think you are, a pity or rebound fuck?" Linda couldn't help but be astounded.

"No," Lou forced out, shoving his hands through his hair again. "I just...I don't want there to be hurt feelings in the morning and I've already got..."

"You think God won't forgive you for making love to the mother of your child?" Linda asked, honestly intrigued, and Lou's eyes widened.

"Do not bring God into this! We don't even know what _this _is, and - and you're right - what about San - Ariana? I haven't forgotten about her!"

"I'm not asking you to, Lou. You said she was with that guy, Stone, her own partner - and he was killed in front of her - she's not going to get over that in three weeks or a month, and...Bobby got you started, but it's still going to take time. And it's going to take time for me to get over - him. But my _point _is that if there's anyone there will never be getting over, it's you. That's all.

"Not to be arrogant, but you already said as much about me. We can still move on. It...just doesn't have to be right this moment. We've been in stasis for ten years, Lou. This could be like...like closing a book once and for all. Maybe we can finally allow ourselves to be happy after this - or...well, who knows? That's not the point."

Lou snorted, "The point is fuck you."

Linda gritted her teeth, "I forgot how - except that you're not. This is why you stay away from Sean Dignam, he turns you into a caveman."

"Hey, you're the one in the middle of telling me to take your hair and drag you back to the cave." Lou pointed out and Linda rolled her eyes.

"We're already in your damned cave, as you can see."

But Lou wasn't finished, "People don't stop bein' mad at people just like that." He snapped his fingers. "A week ago, you didn't even wanna talk to me."

"Lou, _shut up_!" Linda finally ended the argument, reaching up to start kissing around his mouth and listen to him moan in turn. Pulling his jacket off and untucking his shirt, she got to work on his belt, ignoring his increasingly feeble objections.

Finally, he was quiet altogether, the way she so blissfully remembered, and Linda couldn't help but chuckle as she lay atop him, tracing the outline of his left clavicle.

"That's more like it," Linda said with definite satisfaction.

"I forgot your ego was the size of Alaska." Lou actually sounded something approaching _happy_.

Linda moaned happily, but pretended to threaten, "I have direct access to your _stake_, I would shut up if I were you."

"Shut up or 'schtup'?"

"That's Yiddish and we're Catholic, shut up."

"A fine thing to say on the way to Mass."

"We - oh, crap, we have fifteen minutes to get to your church and I have a feeling you're still tetchy about _abusing _your siren."

Lou shook his head, "I don't even have one in my car. You know that."

Linda started shooing him toward the door, "The Land Rover and Driver Without a Clue. Lou, let's _go_!"

Lou shot her an incredulous stare while slowly sitting up, "Says the one who initiated all this!" But he began to get dressed once more regardless.

Neither of them spoke again until they both burst out into Lou's living room to find Bobby with his hands clamped firmly over his ears, his eyes shut tight, humming 'The Star-Spangled Banner' as loudly as he could. Washington, on the other hand, just stood there blinking in utter astonishment.

Finally, Bobby got up the nerve to peek at his parents, only to breathe a sigh of relief once he saw they were both fully clothed and once again almost perfectly dressed for Mass.

"Bless me, Father, for I have done a...questionable thing," he muttered, glaring at them both as his mother ran her hand once more over her hair and his father opted to ignore them altogether in favor of getting the door open.

"You both better spend a good long time in the confessional," Washington couldn't help but admonish, laughing as he watched Bobby clap his hands back over his ears and start humming loudly again.

"Why didn't you just bring your .mp3 player and that huge pair of headphones?" he asked his godson, who threw his mother an incredibly dirty look, only to be smacked upside the head by Fitch, who had stretched back from the doorway to do so.

"Because he's not allowed to bring anything distracting to Mass, so he doesn't even tempt himself," Linda explained, hopping as she put her heels on, finally. "Lou, don't smack him!"

"Now, that's just cruel," Washington found himself chuckling and Fitch turned and shot him the dirtiest look he, himself, had gotten yet. Washington looked at Linda. "The headphones, not the smack...and I told you I've seen that look in his eyes a buncha times."

Fitch's voice echoed from down the hall now, "Will you shut up for once? Come on, Katie and Maddie are meetin' us there!"

"Partner, I don't think you get to talk about shuttin' up right now."

The blur of his aggravated, loudly complaining godson preceded both himself and Linda out the door, leaving Damon without an answer but laughing all the same.

_...Then I will try and try again, and hope that someone understands..._

**...TBC...**


End file.
